Too Good To Be True

★★★★ Four Stars WhatsOnStage

Perhaps one of the first absurd comedies in English, and one of Shaw’s least performed work in its first london revival in over 20 years.

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 it means to spend yourself sick. A bizarrely hilarious and very contemporary analysis of out-of-control wealth, involving a giant amoeba and Lawrence of Arabia, 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.

After the matinee performance on the 26th of September, Sir Michael Holroyd, Shaw’s official biographer, was present for a short discussion on the play