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Philosopher Clown. This apparently obdurate optimism may have been Shaw's final put-on. As machine-gun bursts of talk reduce argument after argument to rubble in Man and Superman, one becomes more and more aware of the self-divided ambiguity of Shaw's nature. Just as he was a celibate husband, he was a plutocratic socialist, a religious atheist, an irrational rationalist, a philosopher clown, a meditative activist and a sexually emancipatory puritan.
The two qualities Shaw most prized, he also possessed — moral passion and individual integrity. It is not surprising that he portrays hell in this play as a kind of sumptuous nightclub of gourmandizing delights and heaven as a spartan gymnasium of progressive ar dor. Shaw speaks the language of militant betterment, and it is at the heart of Man and Superman.
The play is often cut by one act, at least, and the two-hour Don Juan in Hell segment is sometimes performed alone in concert reading. This full-length production is gloriously fortunate in having in the central role of Tanner an actor who is the pluperfect master of the Shavian rhetoric. At the risk of offending his admirable colleagues in the cast, one must say that it is extremely doubtful if so prodigious an undertaking could have succeeded without an actor of Ian Richardson's scope and power. His voice is like the trumpet of the Lord at the Second Coming. He can insinuate like a violin, wheedle like a clarinet and thunder anathemas like a great bass drum. And alongside that, Richardson maintains a physical counterpoint of impish comic invention, which is an equally essential element of the Shavian rhetoric.
In another key part, that of the Devil, Tony van Bridge lacks a bit of the roguish, demonic assurance that Charles Laughton once brought to the part.
However, in his role as director of a play that resembles a massive military cam paign as much as it does a drama, Van Bridge deserves the rank of four-star general. Everybody involved in Man and Superman merits praise without stint, for they have taken one of the masterworks of the 20th century theater and brought it to effulgent life.