The Shaw Festival is the only theatre in the world which exclusively focuses on plays by Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries, including plays written during, or about the period of Shaw’s lifetime (1856 – 1950).

The Shaw Festival’s mandate also includes:

• Uncovered Gems – digging up undiscovered theatrical treasures, or plays which were considered major works when they were written but which have since been unjustly neglected
• American Classics – we continue to celebrate the best of American theatre
• Musicals – musical treats either from, or set during the period of our mandate
• Canadian Work – to allow us to hear and promote our own stories, our own points of view about the mandate period.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

As Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell says, “We all know the man can talk, but Bernard Shaw is also one of the most prescient, provocative, sparklingly articulate writers in the English language. His words and ideas, expressed in plays that are well-known, or in plays that are not so familiar but no less interesting, have extraordinary relevance today. It is a joy to draw attention to those ideas and bring them to life on our stages.”