| The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles | |
|---|---|
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| Written by | George Bernard Shaw |
| Date premiered | February 18, 1935 |
| Place premiered | Guild Theatre, Theatre Guild of New York |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | Inhabitants of a newly formed island experiment with polygamy. |
| Genre | allegory; comedy |
| Setting | a Polynesian island |
The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles: A Vision of Judgement is a 1934 play by George Bernard Shaw. The play is a satirical allegory about an attempt to create a utopian society on a Polynesian island that has recently emerged from the sea.
The play divided critics. Edmund Wilson described it as Shaw's only "silly play", in which the action seems to be purely whimsical. In contrast, Frederick McDowell wrote that Shaw had created "a symbolic fable" to expound his own "deeply felt ideas".[1] The preface, in which Shaw appears to advocate the killing of useless individuals in a future society, has been considered to be distasteful by several commentators.
- ^ Daniel J. Leary "About Nothing in Shaw's The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles", Educational Theatre Journal, Vol. 24, No. 2 (May, 1972), pp. 139-148.