EVE [_angrily to the snake_] This death that you have brought into thegarden is an evil thing. You know what I mean. Adam invents the word to-morrow. I do not want to eat children. That is a great thought. She belongs to a colony of long-lived people and has been assigned the task of protecting short-lived visitors. [10] comes close to qualifying. Darkness ensues and the ghost of Adam appears as a vague radiance. Everything must have been created out of nothing. You are idle: you are selfish. Both Burge-Lubin and Barnabas are considerably put off because they stand in awe of her although they deem her quite good-looking. What is wicked? Savvy and Haslam are nearly unaffected because the entire idea is well above their heads. When, e.g., the stage director for the Birmingham production asked how the Serpent was to be presented, Shaw responded with a clumsy sketch and suggested an artist be employed to design costume, colouring and lighting. I must have somethingto worship. Come [_he seizes her by the hair to dragher away_]. CAIN. EVE. I _have_ to think about you. No longer arrogant, he asks her for advice. No: I am afraid of it. ADAM [_rising and approaching it slowly_] There is something uncannyabout it. Book from Project Gutenberg: Back to Methuselah. Andnettles, too! The Archbishop is recognizably the Reverend Haslam, Savvy Barnabas' sweetheart, no longer callow, but dignified and confident and looking no more than fifty. She saw death as yousaw it when the fawn fell; and she knew then that she must find out howto renew herself and cast the skin like me. EVE. Whereupon she vanishes, the lighting turns to daylight and the abyss is no more. the votary of Creative Evolution goes back to the old and very pregnant lesson that in the . I make no vows. And what a wonderful thing! EVE. Ha! EVE. EVE [_now pitying him maternally_] Love! But I dream things that never were; and Isay 'Why not?' If they learn to propagate they can make other humans to tend the garden and thus be free to escape from living when they wish. The rock and tree are on the border of a glade in which lies a dead fawnall awry, its neck being broken. I am the first murderer: you are only the first man. If I bind my will I strangle creation. Be silent, both of you. ADAM [_horrified_] Oh no, no. Adamlooks worried, like a farmer. Bernard Shaw's epic "Back to Methuselah", which was first performed in 1922, has been revived by The Royal Shakespeare Company to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Shaw's death. I _will_ bind the future. Other articles where Back to Methuselah is discussed: George Bernard Shaw: Works after World War I: plays under the collective title Back to Methuselah (1922). I am the most subtle of all the creatures of the field. I am what I am:nothing can alter that. EVE. The Voice in the garden will tell them that theymust not kill, as it tells me. It was for that that Lilith set you free from thetravail of women, not for theft and murder. CAIN. Undutiful! EVE. That is what hasbrought me to my mother today. Their dread of death is overwhelmed by the yet more dreadful prospect of life unending, with its tedium and burdens, but they feel bound to live forever because Eden must be taken care of and they are the only ones available to do it. 7279, (Constable & Co., London, 1949. The Devil thank her for it! EVE. You have both invented marriage. CAIN [_to Adam_] Still digging? I want to be different; tobe better, to begin again and again; to shed myself as a snake sheds itsskin. THE SERPENT. ADAM [_angrily_] Be silent, woman. Allll the way back to the beginning, with a series of. They will not overrun the wholegarden for a long time: not until you have laid down your burden andgone to sleep for ever. I fear you myself. Now you no longer care. I think about you. All were written during 1918 to 1920 and published simultaneously by Constable (London) and Brentano's (New York) in 1921. Back to Methuselah was presented in three parts. That is a sweet word. You are the nurses and valets of the oxen and dogs andasses you have tamed to work for you. Youmust never put yourself in danger of stumbling. The state of them that love death more than life. It is not only its eyes. If I must have food or die, I will at least have it at as far aremove from the earth as I can. Sixteen Self Sketches: What is My Religious Faith, pp. Only just now youwanted me to sit still and never move lest I should stumble and die likethe fawn. Let the newAdams clear a place for themselves. His question: "How am I to satisfy my genius for fighting until I die?" Begone. But you could come softly up behind me and [_she suddenly pounceson his shoulders and throws him forward on his face_] throw me down sothat I should die. (5 episodes, 1952) Series Writing Credits George Bernard Shaw . and internal kicking rocks it so hard that it must be held steady to keep it from rolling off the altar. In the Beginning: B.C. Then I gave up your old silly drudging ways, and lived as he hadlived, by the chase, by the killing, and by the fire. Back to Methuselah. Andthen there will be nothing but snakes, snakes, snakes everywhere. The fawn stumbled and fell anddied. It is I who am to die. ADAM. She is nearly four years old and is wearying of the activities of children. THE SERPENT. But you willedand tried and willed and tried; and your will created out of nothing theroll on your arm until you had your desire, and could draw yourself upwith one hand and seat yourself on the bough that was above your head. THE SERPENT. I call it dead. Because I hatecreatures with two heads, or with withered limbs, or that are distortedand perverted and unnatural. It is I. I have come to shew you my beautiful new hood. Both sit on theground_]. ADAM. That is too wonderful. The sun will give life. It is likely that he did not die as the world. I have another thought: I must tell it to Adam. THE SERPENT. EVE. Some Reflections on Back to Methuselah in Performance Critics have had divided reactions to Back to Methuselah. I shall not make them. She is not yet visible to anyone unaware of her presence, asher colors of green and brown make a perfect camouflage. EVE. The Voice does not speak to me as it does to you. You do care. [_Calling_] Adam!Adam! The woman knows that there is no such thing as nothing: the manknows that there is no such day as tomorrow. He was in the line of ten godly descendants that preserved the godly promise. The brothers are disappointed but remain completely confident that the I call that renewal being born. EVE [_turning away from him with a shrug, and hugging her ankles_] Ishould soon get tired of that. The east wind shall wither Britain's enemies in the day of contest. Without themcourage would have no sense. And I will love Eve all that time and noother woman. You shall notlisten to that snake any more. No. Child-eating! Choose a day for your death; and resolve to die on thatday. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. Furthermore, one of Shaw's last plays, Farfetched Fables (1950) also classifies as science fiction,[9] and The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles (1934). THE SERPENT. "Baghdad?" For you werethe first children in the world, and filled us with such wonder anddelight as no couple can ever again feel while the world lasts. [_She sits on the rock and throws herarms round the serpent, who begins whispering to her_]. Back to Methuselah Broadway Revival Ambassador Theatre 219 W. 49th St., New York, NY SYNOPSIS: playwright: George Bernard Shaw People (21) Cast Current Cast Opening Night Production Credits. Forthe Voice tells me that I must offer myself to every man to be killed ifhe can kill me. You neither of you know anything about life. Shall I paint my face and let my arms wasteinto pretty softness, and eat partridges and doves, and the flesh ofkids whose milk you will steal for me? That comes before everything. THE SERPENT [_to Adam_] Do you want her to die? This will please him, and cure his fits of melancholy. I will take care of you and bring you what you want. EVE [_admiring it_] Oh! Sheshall have no other food; and that will make her my slave. When you and Adam talk, I hear you say 'Why?' What have you made of yourselves? THE SERPENT. Eve invents the word . To be thefirst murderer one must be a man of spirit. That is true. I will give life myself. You are lazy: you are dirty: youneglect yourself: you are always dreaming: you would eat bad food andbecome disgusting if I did not watch you and occupy myself with you. THE SERPENT. He will be in your power through hisdesire. I musthave certainty. EVE. Zoo removes and folds her costumethe magic and mystery are gone. I lived in the sweat of my brow, as you do. THE SERPENT. ADAM. At that point the Minister of Health phones again to tell Burge-Lubin she has changed her mind and invites him to share an amorous adventure aboard her yacht, presently in Fishguard Bay. It is I who must conceive. The diggers come: the fighters and killers come:they are both very dull; for they either complain to me of the lastharvest, or boast to me of the last fight; and one harvest is just likeanother, and the last fight only a repetition of the first. She asks if he is a foreigner and he denies it and says he is a Briton who lives in the capital. ADAM [_ruminating_] You puzzle me. ADAM. We have to live here for ever.Think of what for ever means! When they come, there isalways some new wonder, or some new hope: something to live for. ADAM. I will tear.another Adam from my body if I tear my body to pieces in the act. I despised myself fornot doing as he did instead of what you did. What a beautiful word! [Shaw wrote an extra scene for this part, which he later deleted and then published separately as A Glimpse of the Domesticity of Franklyn Barnabas], The Thing Happens begins in 2170, 150 years after the Barnabas brothers disclosed their inferences, Englishmen continue immature throughout their lives. That is the word. They can remembertheir dreams. I have told Cain already that he is not aman and that Lua is not a woman: they are monsters. Your bowels become rotten; yourhair falls from you; your teeth blacken and drop out; and you die beforeyour time, not because you will, but because you must. It is admittedly possible to find some excuses for the negative side of his arguments, especially the refusal to be convinced by Darwin. Go in peace. They borrow and never pay; but one gives them what they want,because they tell beautiful lies in beautiful words. EVE [_trying to shake it and roll it over_] It is stiff and cold. Let Eve vow to loveyou until your death. But I have known what it is to sit and brood under the terror ofeternity, of immortality. David Fielding's abridgement has succeeded in shortening this five-part play down to 4 fascinating hours. Yes:there is no such thing as nothing, only things we cannot see. To his parents he has the self-assertive,not-quite-at-ease manner of a revolted son who knows that he is notforgiven nor approved of._. As long as you do not know the future you do not know thatit will not be happier than the past. According to Louis Crompton in Shaw the Dramatist (pp. The earthfeeds us. In rejecting yourdrudgery, have I not embraced evils and agonies of which you knownothing? It is; and it is not. You slay the tiger at the risk of yourlife; but who gets the striped skin you have run that risk for? The serpent never dies. Shaw's scientific rationale for evolving long-lived humans depended on the inheritance of acquired characteristics. It is terrible; but there is no joy like it. ADAM [_uttering a grunt of disgust_]!!! EVE [_displeased, turning away from the serpent_] But it will destroyhope. THE SERPENT. CAIN [_letting his spear fall into the crook of his shield arm, andtwirling his moustache_] There is something higher than man. Whose fault was it that I killed Abel? Thus emboldened, he grandiosely speaks of the greatness of his party, the Potterbills, presently in power, but also losing ground to the villainous opposition party, the Rotterjacks. I revolt against the food. The voice in the garden is your own voice. He cannotbear pain, nor take trouble with his body. [11] Unlike the plays Shaw wrote for staging, which include precise descriptions of the settings, the details of stage settings for Methuselah are sketchy and serve only to direct the imagination of the reader. Promise me you will be careful. ADAM. A woman approaches to ask if he needs help. Sit down and be quiet; and listen tome. EVE [_shaking him_] Adam: you must not brood. Let that be enough for you. Hearken to me, old fool. But he must give hisdesire and his will to you. That must not be. Are you eager to be rid of me? ADAM [_to Eve, grumpily_] Why do you live on, if you can find nothingbetter to do than complain? The Ancients arrive, having sensed that they were needed, and destroy the couple painlessly. EVE. She looks seventeen years old. THE SERPENT. ADAM. The garden is full of voices sometimes. Each has a say, in accordance with their characters, and Lilith prophesies an end of life's slavery to matter, whereupon the spectres vanish. Kill, kill, kill, kill. Next come the ghosts of Eve and Cain, then those of the Serpent and Lilith, mother of mankind. EVE. information about this edition . What are you, you poor slave of a painted face anda bundle of skunk's fur? 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