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Village Wooing: A Play about Reading and Writing

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Jean Reynolds
Jean Reynolds

Village Wooing, a 1933 play by Bernard Shaw, is an unusual love story. Embedded in the play are some important ideas about language, reading, and writing.

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Village Wooing A Play about Reading and Writing Jean Reynolds
Welcome to beautiful Wiltshire Downs, one of the settings for Village Wooing. Before we turn to Shaws play, I have two questions for you to think about.
Much of this talk is going to be about imagination. My first question is about reading. Imagine that youve just read a wonderful book. The author is someone youd really like to know.
You unexpectedly have a chance to meet that author. How do you think that would work out? How closely does the writer in our heads match the actual person?
I have another question that tests your knowledge of Shaw. Imagine youre on a quiz show.
For $50,000 name TWO Shaw plays with all of these features: A bet that involves a language challenge A young woman who took an elocution course to qualify for a job A man who earns his living through language A married couple who run a shop A marriage across class lines
Theres no definite answer to the first question. Even though the book was magical, the writer might not be likeable at all.
The answers to my second question are Pygmalion Village Wooing
A very trivial 界看馨艶糸庄艶岳岳温
But then. Bob Gaines asked me to write about Village Wooing in a book he was compiling: Marriages and Misalliances.
Heres an outline of the play.
Shaw never gave names to the two characters. A is older and a widower. He makes his living by writing the Marco Polo Series of Chatty Travel Guide Books.
Z is younger, single, and female. Shes a shop assistant in a small village. She won a contest and used the prize money to pay for a cruise. She likes to read.
The First Conversation They meet for the first time on the deck of a cruise ship. She keeps talking, talking, and talking.
The First Conversation Hes trying to finish his 500-word quota for the morning Finally she leaves him alone and goes to eat lunch.
The Second Conversation Six months later, he wanders into the shop where shes working. She impresses him with her business knowledge.
The Second Conversation She remembers him and confesses she knew who he was when they met on the ship. She had made a bet with the other passengers that she could get him to talk to her.
The Second Conversation Hes tired of writing. He decides to buy the shop and keep her on as his assistant. He doesnt want to marry her.
The Third Conversation She keeps pushing him to marry her. Finally he agrees.
And now I have a confession to make. Ive told you three lies.
There are four characters, not two. Well have more to say about the two imaginary characters soon.
The outline I showed you is wrong.
Heres the correct outline. Shaw wrote only the parts in blue.
Shaw isnt the sole playwright.
Shaws Comedy of Disillusionment Comprehension of events in the theater is always provisional anduntil the end of performance necessarily incomplete. In its temporal unfolding, dramatic plot is a string of inferences, the moment's best guess. Stanton B. Garner Jr.
a pit of philosophers a pit of playwrights
And that brings us back to something I mentioned earlier:
The similarities between Pygmalion and Village Wooing: A bet that involves a language challenge A young woman who took an elocution course to qualify for a job A language expert A married couple who run a shop A marriage across class lines
Could Shaw have been thinking about writing another play about language
a play about reading and writing?
Reading isnt interesting onstage. Its too solitary.
Writing has the same problem. Theres nothing to see except a pen moving on paper, or fingers tapping on a keyboard.
Shaw added those two imaginary characters we walked about earlier: the reader in As head, and the writer in Zs head. Now the sparks can fly.
A provocative article by Walter Ong, a Jesuit, might be helpful here. The Writers Audience Is Always a Fiction, was published in the 1975 PMLA.
A reader has to play the role in which the author has cast him, which seldom coincides with his role in the rest of actual life. From Walter Ong:
A Prairie Home Companion was a great example of inviting audiences to act. Photo by Jonathunder
When you tuned in, you felt like a member of a Lutheran church in Minnesota. Photo by Nyttest
Shawa bit of an actor on paperknew all about involving audiences this way. When we read Shaw, we become blazing supporters for his ideas, or lively members of his social circle, or close friends who share his deepest thoughts.
The Real Me Who I Think I Am When Im Reading Shaw
If we follow Shaw and Ongs lead, Village Wooing explores two kinds of role playing.
We already know that actors role play onstage.
We may not notice how often we role play while were reading and writing.
A is a snob who thinks the working class is beneath his notice. The buyers for his books are dreaming shop girls, hungry for exotic places and romance.
So what if hes only pretending to be a chatty and charming travel guide? What really matters are his royalty checks.
Z is young, smart, and single. She has read the entire Marco Polo Series of Chatty Travel Guides.
She wants to walk among the ruins in the moonlight with the Marco Polo Man. She thinks A is that man.
And thats our prequel the relationship that began when A started writing and Z started reading his travel books.
Is A a romantic world traveleror a hard-working writer? The challenge for both of them is to sort out whats realand what isnt.
Is Z a dreaming shop girlor a smart young businesswoman?
Shes the first to sort out what is and isnt real. She learns that those faraway places are hot, smelly, and full of insects.
Shes discovered that A isnt really the chatty Marco Polo Manbut she still wants him. She gives up her chatty act.
A, the travel writer, has his own issues to sort out. He wants to marry a woman from his own classbut he doesnt like their wasteful spending habits.
Hes always scorned shopkeepers but now hes finding that he enjoys the shop and his customers.
Heres our outline again. You can see the prequel, where A and Z first met within the covers of his books.
And you can see where we revised the first shipboard meeting.
Z fooled Aand us. She was putting on an act for the benefit of the Marco Polo Man. We revise our notion of what happened at that meeting.
I have three takeaways to offer you.
First, I hope youre curious about Walter Ongs article. We all know that Shaw often started acting as soon as he picked up a pen. What we may not notice is that we often start acting too. Its an idea thats worth exploring.
Youre a playwright. Second, I encourage you to start thinking of yourself as a playwright whos collaborating with Shaw (or Shakespeare, or Pinter, or Hansberry, or any other dramatist).
What parts of the plot did you supply yourself? Try diagramming a play. Its funand it can open up new insights into a play you thought you knew well.
A Wonderful Play Most important, I hope youll reador rereadVillage Wooingand watch a performance if you can.
I havent discussed the ideas about life and love in Village Wooing, for a very good reason. Its a superb play, and you need to hear those ideas from the characters Shaw created.
Thank you!

More Related Content

Village Wooing: A Play about Reading and Writing

  • 1. Village Wooing A Play about Reading and Writing Jean Reynolds
  • 2. Welcome to beautiful Wiltshire Downs, one of the settings for Village Wooing. Before we turn to Shaws play, I have two questions for you to think about.
  • 3. Much of this talk is going to be about imagination. My first question is about reading. Imagine that youve just read a wonderful book. The author is someone youd really like to know.
  • 4. You unexpectedly have a chance to meet that author. How do you think that would work out? How closely does the writer in our heads match the actual person?
  • 5. I have another question that tests your knowledge of Shaw. Imagine youre on a quiz show.
  • 6. For $50,000 name TWO Shaw plays with all of these features: A bet that involves a language challenge A young woman who took an elocution course to qualify for a job A man who earns his living through language A married couple who run a shop A marriage across class lines
  • 7. Theres no definite answer to the first question. Even though the book was magical, the writer might not be likeable at all.
  • 8. The answers to my second question are Pygmalion Village Wooing
  • 9. A very trivial 界看馨艶糸庄艶岳岳温
  • 10. But then. Bob Gaines asked me to write about Village Wooing in a book he was compiling: Marriages and Misalliances.
  • 11. Heres an outline of the play.
  • 12. Shaw never gave names to the two characters. A is older and a widower. He makes his living by writing the Marco Polo Series of Chatty Travel Guide Books.
  • 13. Z is younger, single, and female. Shes a shop assistant in a small village. She won a contest and used the prize money to pay for a cruise. She likes to read.
  • 14. The First Conversation They meet for the first time on the deck of a cruise ship. She keeps talking, talking, and talking.
  • 15. The First Conversation Hes trying to finish his 500-word quota for the morning Finally she leaves him alone and goes to eat lunch.
  • 16. The Second Conversation Six months later, he wanders into the shop where shes working. She impresses him with her business knowledge.
  • 17. The Second Conversation She remembers him and confesses she knew who he was when they met on the ship. She had made a bet with the other passengers that she could get him to talk to her.
  • 18. The Second Conversation Hes tired of writing. He decides to buy the shop and keep her on as his assistant. He doesnt want to marry her.
  • 19. The Third Conversation She keeps pushing him to marry her. Finally he agrees.
  • 20. And now I have a confession to make. Ive told you three lies.
  • 21. There are four characters, not two. Well have more to say about the two imaginary characters soon.
  • 22. The outline I showed you is wrong.
  • 23. Heres the correct outline. Shaw wrote only the parts in blue.
  • 24. Shaw isnt the sole playwright.
  • 25. Shaws Comedy of Disillusionment Comprehension of events in the theater is always provisional anduntil the end of performance necessarily incomplete. In its temporal unfolding, dramatic plot is a string of inferences, the moment's best guess. Stanton B. Garner Jr.
  • 26. a pit of philosophers a pit of playwrights
  • 27. And that brings us back to something I mentioned earlier:
  • 28. The similarities between Pygmalion and Village Wooing: A bet that involves a language challenge A young woman who took an elocution course to qualify for a job A language expert A married couple who run a shop A marriage across class lines
  • 29. Could Shaw have been thinking about writing another play about language
  • 30. a play about reading and writing?
  • 31. Reading isnt interesting onstage. Its too solitary.
  • 32. Writing has the same problem. Theres nothing to see except a pen moving on paper, or fingers tapping on a keyboard.
  • 33. Shaw added those two imaginary characters we walked about earlier: the reader in As head, and the writer in Zs head. Now the sparks can fly.
  • 34. A provocative article by Walter Ong, a Jesuit, might be helpful here. The Writers Audience Is Always a Fiction, was published in the 1975 PMLA.
  • 35. A reader has to play the role in which the author has cast him, which seldom coincides with his role in the rest of actual life. From Walter Ong:
  • 36. A Prairie Home Companion was a great example of inviting audiences to act. Photo by Jonathunder
  • 37. When you tuned in, you felt like a member of a Lutheran church in Minnesota. Photo by Nyttest
  • 38. Shawa bit of an actor on paperknew all about involving audiences this way. When we read Shaw, we become blazing supporters for his ideas, or lively members of his social circle, or close friends who share his deepest thoughts.
  • 39. The Real Me Who I Think I Am When Im Reading Shaw
  • 40. If we follow Shaw and Ongs lead, Village Wooing explores two kinds of role playing.
  • 41. We already know that actors role play onstage.
  • 42. We may not notice how often we role play while were reading and writing.
  • 43. A is a snob who thinks the working class is beneath his notice. The buyers for his books are dreaming shop girls, hungry for exotic places and romance.
  • 44. So what if hes only pretending to be a chatty and charming travel guide? What really matters are his royalty checks.
  • 45. Z is young, smart, and single. She has read the entire Marco Polo Series of Chatty Travel Guides.
  • 46. She wants to walk among the ruins in the moonlight with the Marco Polo Man. She thinks A is that man.
  • 47. And thats our prequel the relationship that began when A started writing and Z started reading his travel books.
  • 48. Is A a romantic world traveleror a hard-working writer? The challenge for both of them is to sort out whats realand what isnt.
  • 49. Is Z a dreaming shop girlor a smart young businesswoman?
  • 50. Shes the first to sort out what is and isnt real. She learns that those faraway places are hot, smelly, and full of insects.
  • 51. Shes discovered that A isnt really the chatty Marco Polo Manbut she still wants him. She gives up her chatty act.
  • 52. A, the travel writer, has his own issues to sort out. He wants to marry a woman from his own classbut he doesnt like their wasteful spending habits.
  • 53. Hes always scorned shopkeepers but now hes finding that he enjoys the shop and his customers.
  • 54. Heres our outline again. You can see the prequel, where A and Z first met within the covers of his books.
  • 55. And you can see where we revised the first shipboard meeting.
  • 56. Z fooled Aand us. She was putting on an act for the benefit of the Marco Polo Man. We revise our notion of what happened at that meeting.
  • 57. I have three takeaways to offer you.
  • 58. First, I hope youre curious about Walter Ongs article. We all know that Shaw often started acting as soon as he picked up a pen. What we may not notice is that we often start acting too. Its an idea thats worth exploring.
  • 59. Youre a playwright. Second, I encourage you to start thinking of yourself as a playwright whos collaborating with Shaw (or Shakespeare, or Pinter, or Hansberry, or any other dramatist).
  • 60. What parts of the plot did you supply yourself? Try diagramming a play. Its funand it can open up new insights into a play you thought you knew well.
  • 61. A Wonderful Play Most important, I hope youll reador rereadVillage Wooingand watch a performance if you can.
  • 62. I havent discussed the ideas about life and love in Village Wooing, for a very good reason. Its a superb play, and you need to hear those ideas from the characters Shaw created.