Too True to be Good - A Political Extravaganza

Synopsis

A rich young woman catches a pair of burglars in her bedroom, but instead of calling the police she decides to run off with them, and live off the proceeds of her own burglary. The three embark on a permanent beach holiday, a life of fabulous wealth and total freedom. Written in 1932, during the last great economic collapse, Too True To Be Good asks what we would do if we finally got everything we ever wanted. A bizarrely hilarious and unfortunately contemporary analysis of out-of-control wealth, this is a side of Shaw we rarely see - as the grand old man of the theatre leaves the drawing-room for the beach. First performed in New York and London in 1932, it has not been seen in London since 1975 (in a Royal Shakespeare Company production with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench that transferred to the West End) and 1986 (Mike Alfreds’ Shared Experience production at the Riverside Studios). In 2006, it played to great acclaim at Canada’s Shaw Festival.

Our Review:

7 September 2009

George Bernard Shaw’s political fantasy concerning the misery of the rich breaks all the rules of perceived wisdom, but profers that socialism works in two ways – rich people are even more pathetic victims than poor ones.

A young woman, Miss Mopply (Olivia Lumley) is kept in a cocoon state by her over protective mother. She's being tended by a doctor (Graham Seed), whose living depends on giving his patients the medicines they demand whether they need them or not. The sublimely irritating mother, Mrs Mopply (Jenny Lee), decides that her child should be immunised - “I was immunised against the Influenza and I’ve only had it four times”.

When the young woman’s bedroom is invaded by a couple of crooks, her powerful left hook is brought into use and she realises she is not ill after all – much to the relief of a microbe (Steven Alexander) who hangs about the girl’s bed. The crooked couple are Sweetie (Emily Bowker), a sexy f...

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