Back to Methuselah

Back to Methuselah (A Metabiological Pentateuch) by George Bernard Shaw consists of a preface (An Infidel Half Century) and a series of five plays: In the Beginning: B.C. 4004 (In the Garden of Eden), The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas: Present Day, The Thing Happens: A.D. 2170, Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman: A.D. 3000, and As Far as Thought Can Reach: A.D. 31,920. All were written during 1918–20, published simultaneously by Constable (London) and Brentano's (New York) in 1921, and first performed in the United States in 1922 by the New York Theatre Guild at the old Garrick Theatre (New York) and, in Britain, at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1923.

Performance history in South Africa
Part 1 was performed in a double bill with Androcles and the Lion at the Labia Theatre, directed by Leonard Schach for the Arts Theatre Association, Cape Town, in 1956. The cast were Alec Bell, Joyce Bradley, Edna Jacobson, Johann Nell, Gerrit Wessels and Nicholas Wright. Décor by Giuseppe Cappon and costumes by Mavis Taylor.

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