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The Devil's Disciple | |
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Written by | George Bernard Shaw |
Date premiered | 1897 |
Place premiered | New York |
Original language | English |
Genre | Drama |
Setting | Websterbridge, New Hampshire, 1777 |
The Devil's Disciple is an 1897 play written by Irish dramatist George Bernard Shaw. The play is Shaw's eighth, and after Richard Mansfield's original 1897 American production it was his first financial success, which helped to affirm his career as a playwright. It was published in Shaw's 1901 collection Three Plays for Puritans together with Captain Brassbound's Conversion and Caesar and Cleopatra . Set in Colonial America during the Revolutionary era, the play tells the story of Richard Dudgeon, a local outcast and self-proclaimed "Devil's disciple". In a twist characteristic of Shaw's love of paradox, Dudgeon sacrifices himself in a Christ-like gesture despite his professed infernal allegiance.
The setting is in the Fall of 1777, during the Saratoga Campaign.
Richard (Dick) Dudgeon is an outcast from his family in colonial Websterbridge, New Hampshire. He returns their hatred with scorn. After the death of his father, Dick returns to his childhood home to hear the reading of his father's will, much to his family's dismay. Anthony Anderson, the local minister, treats him with courtesy despite Dick's self-proclaimed apostasy, but Dick's "wickedness" appalls Anderson's wife Judith. To everyone's surprise, it is revealed that Dick's father secretly changed his will just before he died, leaving the bulk of his estate to Dick. Dick promptly evicts his mother from her home, but also invites his cousin Essie (the illegitimate daughter of Dick's never-do-well uncle Peter), orphaned by the hanging of her father as a rebel by the British, to stay as long as she wants. At the end of the Act, Dick proclaims himself also a rebel against the British and scorns his family as cowards when they flee his home. He warns Anderson that the approaching army hanged his uncle in error, believing him to be a man of highest respect, unaware of his ill repute, [ clarification needed ] and that Anderson will be the example set in Websterbridge.
While visiting Anderson's home at the Reverend's invitation, Dick is left alone with Judith while Anderson is called out to Mrs. Dudgeon's deathbed. Perceiving Judith's distaste for him, Dick attempts to leave, but Judith insists he stay until Anderson returns. While they are waiting, British soldiers enter Anderson's home and arrest Dick, mistaking him for Anderson. Dick allows them to take him away without revealing his actual identity. He swears Judith to secrecy lest her husband give the secret away and expose himself to arrest. Anderson returns and finds his wife in a state of great agitation. He demands to know if Dick has harmed her. Breaking her promise to Dick, Judith reveals that soldiers came to arrest Anderson but Dick went in his place. Anderson is stunned. He grabs all his money and a gun and quickly rides away, ignoring Judith's appeals. Judith believes her husband to be a coward, while Dick, whom she despised, is a hero.
Dick is being held for court martial at the local British Army headquarters. Judith visits Dick and asks to be present at his trial. He allows it as long as she promises not to speak up. The proceedings are run by the charming British General Burgoyne. After some back and forth, where, among other things, Dick makes treasonous statements, it is decided the prisoner will be hanged at noon. Judith can no longer hold her tongue and tells the court Dick is not her husband, but this makes no difference—the sentence will still be carried out. The action moves to the gallows at the Websterbridge market place, where Dick is soon to be hanged. He is saved at the last second, however, by Anderson, now the commander of a militia that has won the day.
Fifth Avenue Theatre October 4, 1897 [1]
A 1955 television broadcast featured Ralph Bellamy as Anthony Anderson, Maurice Evans (who also co-wrote the screenplay) as Dick Dudgeon, Teresa Wright as Judith Anderson, Dennis King as General Burgoyne, and Margaret Hamilton as Mrs. Dudgeon.
A 1959 film adaptation featured Burt Lancaster as Reverend Anthony Anderson, Kirk Douglas as Dick Dudgeon, Janette Scott as Judith Anderson, and Laurence Olivier as General Burgoyne.
A 1976 BBC Radio 3 broadcast featured Tony Church as General Burgoyne, James Laurenson as Dick Dudgeon, Tenniel Evans as Anthony Anderson and Lucy Fleming as Judith Anderson. The programme was subsequently re-broadcast on BBC Radio 7, later BBC Radio 4 Extra, in 2009, 2010, and 2011. [2]
The BBC broadcast a 1987 television film on Theatre Night on 17 May with Patrick Stewart as Anthony Anderson, Mike Gwilym as Dick Dudgeon, Susan Wooldridge as Judith Anderson, and Ian Richardson as General Burgoyne. [3]
At Southwark Playhouse in 2025 The Devil May Care was an adaptation by Mark Giesser that moved the story to The Philippines in 1899. [4]
Richard Topcliffe was a priest hunter and practitioner of torture during the reign of Elizabeth I of England. A landowner and Member of Parliament, he became notorious as the government's chief enforcer of the penal laws against the practice of Catholicism.
Dick Barton – Special Agent is a radio thriller serial that was broadcast in the BBC Light Programme between 7 October 1946 and 30 March 1951. Produced and directed by Raymond Raikes, Neil Tuson, and Charles Lefaux, it was aired in 15-minute episodes at 6.45 each weekday evening. From 11 January 1947 an additional "omnibus" edition repeated all of the week's programmes each Saturday morning between 11.00 and 12.00. In all, 711 episodes were produced and the serial achieved a peak audience of 20 million. Its end was marked by a leading article in The Times.
Heartbreak House: A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes is a play written by Bernard Shaw during the First World War, published in 1919 and first performed in November 1920 at the Garrick Theatre, New York, followed by a West End production the following year.
Richard Mansfield was an English actor-manager best known for his performances in Shakespeare plays, Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and the play Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a children's novel by American author Elizabeth George Speare, published in 1958. The story takes place in late 17th-century New England. It won the Newbery Medal in 1959.
Redskin is a 1929 American sound film with a synchronized musical score and sound effects, filmed partially in Technicolor. Its final six minutes were shown in Magnascope, an enlarged-screen projection novelty. The film, directed by Victor Schertzinger, stars Richard Dix and was produced and released by Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. Though not well remembered among the general public, the film is regarded highly by film historians for presenting sympathetic portrayals of Native Americans in the silent film era.
Caesar and Cleopatra is a play written in 1898 by George Bernard Shaw that depicts a fictionalized account of the relationship between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. It was first published with Captain Brassbound's Conversion and The Devil's Disciple in Shaw's 1901 collection Three Plays for Puritans. It was first performed in a single staged reading at Newcastle upon Tyne on 15 March 1899, to secure the copyright. The play was produced in New York in 1906 and in London at the Savoy Theatre in 1907.
The Devil's Disciple is a 1959 British-American film adaptation of the 1897 George Bernard Shaw play The Devil's Disciple. The Anglo-American film was directed by Guy Hamilton, who replaced Alexander Mackendrick, and starred Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes.
Ah, Wilderness! is a 1935 American comedy-drama film adaptation of the 1933 Eugene O'Neill play of the same name. Directed by Clarence Brown, the film stars Wallace Beery and features Lionel Barrymore, Eric Linden, Cecilia Parker, Spring Byington, and a young Mickey Rooney. Rooney stars as Richard in MGM's musical remake Summer Holiday (1948).
A Small Town Girl was a 1914 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and featuring Lon Chaney, Pauline Bush and Rupert Julian. The film is now considered to be lost.
The Devil's Disciple is a 1987 television film adaptation of the 1897 George Bernard Shaw play of the same title.
Drum Beat is a 1954 American CinemaScope Western film in WarnerColor written and directed by Delmer Daves and co-produced by Daves and Alan Ladd in his first film for his Jaguar Productions company. Ladd stars along with Audrey Dalton, Charles Bronson as Captain Jack, and Hayden Rorke as President Ulysses S. Grant.
Lucky Devils is a 1941 American mystery film directed by Lew Landers and starring Andy Devine, Richard Arlen and Janet Shaw. It was produced and released by Hollywood studio Universal Pictures. Maria Montez has a small role.
The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet: A Sermon in Crude Melodrama is a one-act play by George Bernard Shaw, first produced in 1909. Shaw describes the play as a religious tract in dramatic form.
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