Shaw’s brief, impudent one-act play imagines a midnight encounter between William Shakespeare, the mysterious Dark Lady of his sonnets, and — in a preposterous coup de théâtre — Queen Elizabeth I herself. Shaw uses the conceit to argue, with characteristic cheek, for the establishment of a National Theatre. The play is brief, brilliantly funny, and stuffed with Shakespearean quotations.
First performed in 1910, The Dark Lady of the Sonnets is one of Shaw’s most enjoyable minor pieces. This free EPUB is cleanly formatted for any e-reader.