Village Wooing- LIVE theatre

"My heart always lifts when I’m off to see a Shaw play. A company of Shaw actors who know what they are doing and saying is marvellous." 

Sir Ian McKellen

SHAW2020, a limited theatre company founded by theatre professionals who are members of The Shaw Society, is dedicated to the performance, exploration, and adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's works. Our focus is to bring Bernard Shaw’s theatre and writings - including those of his contemporaries and those he influenced - to a wider, more diverse audience.

When lockdown was enforced in March 2020 we were on the verge of a tour of 'Mrs Warren's Profession'- for The GBS Birthday Tour - the annual tradition, started in 1960, that had been so successful in 2019 with Arms and the Man. 

As venues shutdown and the prospect of a production dwindled we made the decision to keep our creative feet in the door with an online series entitled TALKING SHAW. We also assisted the charity, The Shaw Society, with their online events of readings and performances throughout 2020, culminating in an international online event 'Farewell GBS', celebrating his life as his works came out of copyright around the seventieth anniversary of his death. These "zoom theatre" productions and Talking Shaw can be found on our YouTube channel.

"It's wonderful to see Shaw's plays being kept alive and to such a high standard by SHAW2020. Long may they continue." 

Dame Judi Dench

Now in 2021 we want to hit the road again and bring live theatre back to audiences old and new alike. Village Wooing, A Comedietta for Two Voices written by Shaw in 1933, a battle-of-the-sexes full of Shaw's usual sharp observations and witticisms. 

The characters in this charming two-hander are simply named "A" and "Z". The latter is said to be based on the postmistress of Ayot-St-Lawrence, Jisbella Lyth, who is buried in the graveyard at the Palladian Church in Ayot, where we will begin our tour.

Village Wooing will also visit a London fringe venue and with extra funding from your kind donations we'd be able to add a third, further helping our mission to reach wider more diverse audiences.

When our summer tour was cancelled we lost our main source of income and unfortunately weren't eligible for covid relief funding or government grants. The charity The Shaw Society do give us some small funding, but we need your help to bring the show into London. No amount is too small, please check out our rewards page to see what a donation will get you.

Thank you

"SHAW2020: their mission - to bring Shaw's works to a wider more diverse audience - is ground-breaking and important"

Dr Bonnie Greer OBE

Photos from 2019's five star reviewed production of Arms and the Man at Lauderdale House in Highgate, London-

"If there was a roof on this venue they would have blown it right off...It’s exciting that a young and vibrant theatre company like SHAW2020 are bringing us Shaw’s plays in new and creative ways." Reviews Hub