Shaw: Irascible, Intellectual, Brilliantly Funny

George Bernard Shaw never missed an opportunity to win his way into people's minds through their funny-bones. In Misalliance, he found a way to wrap ideas as complicated and diverse as child-rearing, philanthropy, socialism, love, freewill, literature and British morality into a witty package that both amuses and provokes. Learn more in John Glore’s dissection of Shaw’s brilliant Misalliance, which kicks off the Segerstrom Stage season Sept. 10.

The Vibrator Play??!!??

It’s a title that elicits nervous giggles and sends Spam blockers into overdrive. But Sarah Ruhl’s play, a recent Tony nominee and Pulitzer finalist, is set in a time when electrical stimulators were seen as therapeutic instruments. Doctors and patients didn’t connect sex with the “paroxysm” that the devices generated in women. The play, though, is more than just an excuse to chuckle at the notions of yesteryear. The married couple at the heart of the story—Dr. Givings, one of the first to use the new device on his patients, and Catherine, his lonely wife—are struggling with an issue well-known to modern couples: how to communicate with the one you love. In the Next Room or the vibrator play opens Sept. 26.

Fun with ‘Friends’

Last week, Misalliance director Martin Benson along with actors Dakin Matthews and Kirsten Potter spilled behind-the-scenes secrets to some of SCR’s most loyal patrons during the first of the season’s Friends Seminars. The seminars offer a chance to learn more about SCR’s productions from the people on the inside—and mingle with the cast, crew and other theatre lovers. Best of all, they’re free to Friends of SCR. This year, Friends Seminars will take place on Thursdays (except Tuesday, Jan. 4) at 7pm before each show begins previews. Read more about who’s eligible to attend and get all the dates for this season.