The School, Edale

‘Edale is shocked and disturbed. Edale has discovered Mr. George Bernard Shaw. Mr. Shaw probably does not know that he is one of the protagonists in a grand three-cornered contest which is dividing Edale into fiercely contending factions. The opponents are the Edale Village Players, the Edale Choral Society – and Mr. Shaw. The trouble began when the Village Players introduced a strong dose of Mr. Shaw into this little Derbyshire hamlet by producing “The Showing Up of Blanco Posnet.” Long ago, in the stern days before the war, the Lord Chamberlain was startled by this particular play to such an extent that he refused to allow its public performance, relenting later, when all Mr, Shaw’s works became mellowed in the sun of general approval. If the Lord Chamberlain was startled, so was Edale. Only one performance of “Blanco Posnet” was given, but that was quite enough. Edale, nestling as it does under the slopes of Kinder Scout, is used to dealing with snowstorms, rainstorms and thunderstorms, but not with Shaw-storms. Mr. Shaw was denounced as blasphemous and vulgar – especially by the Choral Society, the deadly rival of the Village Players. There were alarms and excursions among the devotees of the rival bodies; there were indignation meetings. There were rumours that Shaw was to be banned by the village; that the Village Players were to be reprimanded; that future productions would be censored. Edale was definitely perturbed. But the Village Players are sticking to their guns. Mrs. Helen Herdman, the producer and organiser of the Players, told a representative of the “Daily Independent” yesterday that she saw no reason for all the protests that had arisen. “We discussed the play very thoroughly before we decided to produce it,” she said. “We decided that it was the right length for our needs, that it was a good play, and that it was well worth performing. There is no question of blasphemy; this is, of course, an intensely religious play, and those who are objecting to it have completely missed the point. We have been congratulated by many members of the audience on our performance.” Mrs. Herdman was quite unmoved by any suggestion of censorship. The society would, she said, continue to produce the plays of which it approved without interference from outside opinion. The Vicar of Edale, the Rev. C. E. Frith, was not so sure as Mrs. Herdman of the merits of the play. “I did not see the performance and I have not read the play, he said. “I do not know much about it, and I have no wish to be drawn into any controversy. But several people have told me that it is blasphemous and that they would never go to see it again. I have not heard a single person say anything good of the play.” It has been suggested that Mr. Shaw should be asked for his opinions. The arrival of a postcard bearing a cryptic phrase will be awaited with baited [sic] breath by all the inhabitants of contentious Edale” (Sheffield Independent, 10 May 1933). ‘“It is a bare-faced lie. I am not the leader of those who are supposed to be seeking to end the activities of the village Amateur Dramatic Society. It has nothing to with me.” This was the indignant and outspoken reply the Vicar of Edale (the Rev. C. A. Frith) gave to a Derbyshire Times staff reporter in the course of an interview on Wednesday concerning reports which have appeared in some daily newspapers this week regarding the trouble purported to have arisen over the village Dramatic Society’s recent production of George Bernard Shaw’s play, “The Showing Up of Blanco Posnet.” … I called upon Mrs. Heardman at the Church Hotel, who informed me she was the Society’s producer and had held the position since the organisation was formed about 12 months ago. She said that the Society had given two performances - three one-act plays last October and the play over which there has been so much controversy - on April 21st …’ (Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald, 13 May 1933). ‘Although he has no objection to Shakespeare, many of the works of George Bernard Shaw are not fit for a place like Edale, Derbyshire, the vicar, the Rev C A. Firth, told the “Dispatch.” Mr. Firth is chairman of Edale village school managers, who have issued in edict that all plays, sketches, and operettas to be performed in the school have to submitted to them before they can be presented. This censorship has arisen out of the Edale Village Drama Group producing Bernard Shaw’s play “Blanco Posnet” some time ago and which, according to Mr. Firth, offended a number of his parishioners. When Mrs. Heardman, the producer, thought of staging another play she was told that before the school could be booked the managers must see the play, and two of them, “John Dory, Novelist,” by Alice Halsey, and “Thirty Minutes in a Street,” by Beatrice Major, have now received their approval ... Referring to the Shaw play, Mr. Firth said: “We were grossly insulted, but we have not sought revenge. We might have asked for a public apology before we granted the use of the schoolroom, but we are more broadminded and generous than to pursue the matter. I am interested in the village life, and as the leader and conductor of the Edale Musical Society will produce in February the operetta “Duke’s Dilemma”’ (Nottingham Evening Post, 28 December 1933; also reported in the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 28 December 1933).