ABSTRACT
When Henry Irving died on 13 October 1905, Bernard Shaw had written 16 plays, only one of which, however – Arms and the Man – had enjoyed commercial success in England. The Granville Barker–Vedrenne seasons at the court were on their way to establishing Shaw's reputation as a playwright, and Arnold Daly's productions in the United States – beginning with Candida in 1903 – were bringing Shaw's plays to the attention of American critics and audiences. A particular bone of contention about the obituary was Shaw's alleged claim that Irving had solicited his knighthood. Shaw is, however, also blunt and unequivocal in his criticism of Irving. Shaw's earliest surviving theatre review, written when he was, was of Irving's Shylock, and it sets the tone for much of his subsequent criticism. The problem, Shaw always believed, was that Irving considered himself the most important element of any of his productions.
