She does so and asks if he still wants to consult an older person. The Voice does not speak to me as it does to you. Yet I do not want youto die before me. EVE. Back to Methuselah is an epic-length play by George Bernard Shaw - not a writer given to brevity normally - so long and unwieldy, in fact, that Washington Stage Guild estimates that this three-year production is only the third or fourth full production of the play since it was written, in 1920. He rushes from the courtyard, blowing a whistle to summon the police, but is immobilized, within a force-field, near a monument of Falstaff, where he will stand and gibber until it is convenient to collect him. Even a bear would not eat a man if it could gethoney instead. And if Adam keeps his vow I will love no other man until he dies. That comes before everything. The Serpent invents the words love, stranger, life, birth, death, jealousy, years, chance, fear, marriage, hope and the act of laughing. EVE [_petting her_] Eve's wonderful darling snake. ADAM. That comes before everything. CAIN. 2) Methuselah also was the oldest of all known mankind. EVE [_turning impatiently to the snake_] That heart-biting sound again!Do not do it. I am the old serpent, older than Adam, older than Eve. It is the horror of having to be with myself forever. I have watched thosefaces and willed; and then I have made a woman-child that has grown upquite like them. And each host shall tryto kill the other host. Be reasonable, boy. Back to Methuselah (1952- ) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Series Directed by Alan Bromly . The moment you find we need not last for ever,you talk as if we were going to end today. time, Back to Methuselah and Saint Joan. Of newly createdthings. Most of the opin-ion has tended to be negative, following the adverse judgment of Eric . EVE [_throwing her arms round the serpent_] My beautiful snake. I callit fighting. Find me another word for what Lilith was to me. That was wonderfully clever of you. Pah! When you dug, you made the earth live and bring forth as Ilive and bring forth. You will find more snakes than there are fingers onyour hands. Shaw's promotion of Creative Evolution was always wrong, always shallow, and often rather cheap. Things wear out by practice: they do not grow by it. Simple primitive societies, he says, were easily governable while the civilized societies of the twentieth century are so complex that learning to govern them properly can't be accomplished within the human lifespan: People with experience enough to serve the purpose fall into senility and die. You are idle: you are selfish. Jealousy. I don't normally like long plays, but this . In an effort to shed light on what he regards as a pervasive failure of modern governance, Shaw projects his imagination backwards and forwards in time, dissecting what went wrong and . Your flesh ceases to grow like man's flesh: itgrows like a fungus on a tree. Of better things. And now you want tomake still more unnatural monsters, so that you may be utterly lazy andworthless, and that your tamed human animals may find work a blastingcurse. She is a better sort of woman to live with than you. No: they will not kill us: they will feel as I do. You must not move about.You must sit still. I am the most subtle of all the creatures of the field. Let me go, you fool. What is wicked? He need not. 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. Back To Methuselah. ADAM. THE SERPENT. She had a mighty will: shestrove and strove and willed and willed for more moons than there areleaves on all the trees of the garden. You can imagine such an end; but you cannot desire it,therefore cannot will it, therefore cannot create Adams only. Act I of In the Beginning, wherein the Serpent as Lilith's emissary talks to Eve, is one of Shaw's happiest efforts, though the Adam and Eve of . He is to take an aeroplane to the location and be dropped near the yacht by parachute. Back to Methuselah Quotes Showing 1-7 of 7 "You see things; you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?" George Bernard Shaw, Back to Methuselah tags: inspirational 3948 likes Like "You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul." George Bernard Shaw, Back to Methuselah There is a voice in the garden that tells me things. The discussion is interrupted by the arrival of the Domestic Minister, Mrs Lutestring to give her mandatory quarterly report. An oasis in Mesopotamia. I am the first murderer: you are only the first man. It is not only its eyes. ADAM. He says no and tries to hide his tears, which he attributes to hay fever. You and Adam. EVE. THE SERPENT. On the west side stands a little classic temple and in the middle of the glade there is a marble altar, shaped like a table, and long enough for a man to lie on. Because I would not have such wretches in my house. ADAM. A few centuries slip by; Eve and Adam have aged a bit, but otherwise have changed but little: She spends her time by spinning flax for weaving, he digs in the garden. EVE. Afternoon. Except for the brothers, only the housemaid is greatly influenced by the prospect of longevity, for she turns out to be the only one who has really read Conrad's book. She did not know then thatimagination is the beginning of creation. They expound his philosophy of creative evolution in an extended dramatic parable that progresses through time from the Garden of Eden to 31,920 ce. That is too short a word for so long a thing. Bind the future by your will. "Baghdad?" By another thing, called birth. EVE. EVE. Near her head alow rock shows above the Johnswort. Both politicians seize upon the promise of enhanced longevity as a way of attracting votes. Consternation reigns behind them because the others realise than, with the secret out, other long-lifers, previously in hiding, will emerge to join them and form a colony that will seem a threat to short-lived people. As night is falling, the children seek shelter in the temple. And be it noted, Lilith, the first mother, is the presiding imaginative principle of Back to Methuselah itself. Do not tell him yet. The fawn stumbled and fell anddied. CAIN. To me there is only one voice. That is what hasbrought me to my mother today. It wasLilith who did wrong when she shared the labor of creation so unequallybetween man and wife. CAIN. It was I whowhispered the word to you that you did not know. She is not yet visible to anyone unaware of her presence, asher colors of green and brown make a perfect camouflage. If I am to overtake death, I must appoint a real day, not atomorrow. This work, written during 1918-1921, is comprised of a Preface and five Parts; each Part is a a complete play. 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. Leave us in peace. They couldnot: I feel sure of that. 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. Why should I forget it? The opening scene is a sunlit glade at the foot of thickly wooded hill, on a warm summer afternoon in 31,920 AD. Both sit on theground_]. Cease your boasting and bullying, and tell the truth. I, too, have thought of something. THE SERPENT. Itmeans that nothing is certain but uncertainty. THE SERPENT. Back to Methuselah (A Metabiological Pentateuch) by George Bernard Shaw consists of a preface (The Infidel Half Century) and a series of five plays: In the Beginning: B.C. But you used to complainof having to exist always and for ever. Martellus laughs, but not in mockery; he says he, too, attempted such a project, but has smashed all his sculptures and thrown away his tools. That is how; but it is not why. She is outraged when After the briefest sort of conversation, the pair leaves together, obviously intending to produce some long-lived children. He lapses into tears and she puts in a call for help, saying she has encountered an unattended short-liver who is disoriented. Eve invents the word . I made him out of myown body. One tires of everything.There is nothing new under the sun. For if you do not there will be an end. You dare come hereboasting about that good-for-nothing Lua, the worst of daughters and theworst of wives! CAIN. What is a fool? Heinvented the altar to keep the fire alive. [_To Eve_] We have made our vows; and if you mustcreate, you shall create within the bounds of those vows. I had not thought of that. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Shaw's "homeopathic" educational method consisted of lying to students, until the students were able to see through the lies and argue with the teachers. Youmust never put yourself in danger of stumbling. Anything is better than uncertainty. This will please him, and cure his fits of melancholy. Part 1 opened on February 27, 1922; Part 2 opened on March 6, 1922; and Part 3 opened on March 13, 1922. . She, however, will live until she has a fatal accident, which, by the laws of chance, is inevitable for everyone. Ifyou take a step towards your mother with that spear of yours I willstrike you with my spade as you struck Abel. [_She dusts her hands, and draws awayfrom it_]. EVE. And I am very wilful, andmust have what I want; and I have willed and willed and willed. For that is what it would come to,just as it came to lambs and kids when Abel began with sheep and goats.You are a poor silly creature after all. The Archbishop is recognizably the Reverend Haslam, Savvy Barnabas' sweetheart, no longer callow, but dignified and confident and looking no more than fifty. If I am toeat like a bear, if Lua is to bring forth cubs like a bear, then I hadrather be a bear than a man; for the bear is not ashamed: he knows nobetter. There ishero and superman. He has invented tomorrow.You will invent things every day now that the burden of immortality islifted from you. THE SERPENT. ADAM [_throwing his arm round her shoulder with an expression ofanguish_] Oh no: that is plain without any voice. I fear you myself. Never forget it. I was troubled with the burdenof eternal being; but I was not confused in my mind. Adam invents the word to-morrow. So that is what comes of turning your face to the clean clearheavens! THE SERPENT. They have come to consult the oracle about matters of utmost importance. That is why thereis enmity between Woman the creator and Man the destroyer. [_He goes away roaring with laughter, which ceases as he cries from thedistance_] Goodbye, mother. ADAM [_ruminating_] You puzzle me. Back to Methuselah: With Fanny Rowe, Ursula Howells, Ellen Pollock, Ernest Clark. ADAM. The Serpent Fusima Chloe M'el Dowd. Close at handthe end of a log house abuts on a kitchen garden. Inpose, voice, and dress he is insistently warlike. Because if he could do that he could do without Eve. THE SERPENT. Listen. He is mine. Eve thoughtfully remarks that there is more to living than You have both invented marriage. I am very subtle;and I have thought and thought and thought. The sculptors, Arjillax and Martellus, arrive. It was for that that Lilith set you free from thetravail of women, not for theft and murder. And that request was granted: "Go home, poor fool" the oracle replies repeating what she had said to Eastwind. Back to Methuselah; a metabiological Pentateuch. It is long and hard andpainful to create life: it is short and easy to steal the life othershave made. THE SERPENT. I want to be born!" He will be in your power through hisdesire. If Lua naggedat me as you are nagging, and as you nag at Adam, I would beat her blackand blue from head to foot. I think about you. ADAM. I am not lying: I dare all truths. He loved his brother. That is the word. [_Adam points to the fawn_]. Back to Methuselah. _They both retreat, and contemplate it from a few steps' distance withgrowing repulsion._. ADAM. Yes: it must not be. Adam is digging in themiddle of the garden. You must not remind me of unhappy things. ADAM. Peace, peace, you two fools. Youshould try to have an existence of your own, instead of occupyingyourself with my existence. Yes. THE SERPENT. The Prime Minister, now called The Envoy, is too overwhelmed to ask his question until he swallows a half-pint of brandy. Lua was awoman-child when I bore her. Will they live long enough to eat manna? I could not sit still then. Yet you are. Burge-Lubin summons Confucius, the Chief Secretary, to brief him on governmental matters. No: he invented it himself. This leads to a rift with two-year-old Stephen, her romantic partner, but she doesn't mind because it frees her to seek solitude, where she can meditate. Back to Methuselah. The world is wide enough to keep usapart. She is nearly four years old and is wearying of the activities of children. There would be only the things on allfours, and the birds, and the snakes. Martellus apparently brought nothing and Arjillax is jeered because he brought busts of ancients, which the children think are ugly; they want youthful beauties, like themselves. That is true. Sooner or later I shall trip and fall. THE SERPENT. He wants me to die. THE SERPENT. EVE. The Festival of the Artists begins. producer (5 episodes, 1952) Series Art Department Stephen Bundy . information about this edition . But how? Adam, crouching with one hand on therock, is staring in consternation at the dead body. Shetakes it to lie on, and flings you the carrion flesh you cannot eat. THE SERPENT. ADAM. I could kill both of you; andyou could no more defend yourselves than a couple of sheep. By that he is tied to you. What a frightfulthought! CAIN. It said that my deed was as a mark on me, aburnt-in mark such as Abel put on his sheep, that no man should slay me.And here I stand unslain, whilst the cowards who have never slain, themen who are content to be their brothers' keepers instead of theirmasters, are despised and rejected, and slain like rabbits. ADAM. Tell me this: who invented death? 7279, (Constable & Co., London, 1949. Michael Holroyd describes the plays as "a masterpiece of wishful thinking" and calls them science fiction. Are you eager to be rid of me? You imagine what you desire;you will what you imagine; and at last you create what you will. You should not. EVE. THE SERPENT. Did you find it like that? Why not bringthem up from childhood never to know any other lot, so that they maybelieve that we are gods, and that they are here only to make lifeglorious for us? A woman approaches to ask if he needs help. Hewas the discoverer of blood. EVE. Coo-ee! Adam and Eve, as avatars for aboriginal humanity, discover a fawn dead from a broken neck and realize they, too, will die eventually from some mishap, even though they are immune to aging. Barnabas goes to meet the American inventor, who wants to use Records Office film footage to create a A Glimpse of the Domesticity of Franklyn Barnabas, The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God, The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Back_to_Methuselah&oldid=1090077535, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Evolving stages in the future progress of humanity, This page was last edited on 27 May 2022, at 06:56. He was not in its judgment because he chose to live God's ways. ADAM. _Cain kicks the hurdle out of his way, and strides into the garden. A few centuries later. Now you no longer care. ADAM. I do well to worship them. The first performances in England began at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre under the management of Barry Jackson on the 9th October 1923. I have not told you the great secret. It is I who must conceive. The other children bathe her, despite her shrieks and protestations. EVE [_angrily to the snake_] This death that you have brought into thegarden is an evil thing. But they might not be quite the same. He cannotbear pain, nor take trouble with his body. I wish I had a serpent's tongue. No longer arrogant, he asks her for advice. It is. Pleasant at first, their behaviour soon turns murderous and Pygmalion is killed during his efforts to control them. Arjillax explains that he intends to place images in the temple that range in age from the newly-born to the full glory of maturity. If you are content, like the bear, I am not. If they are lazy and have a will towards death I cannot help it.I will live my thousand years: if they will not, let them die and bedamned. Her wheel, which she turns byhand, is a large disc of heavy wood, practically a flywheel. They would not have the same memories. They can dream without sleeping. I will go back to my bravewarrior friends and their splendid women. ADAM [_instinctively moving his hand towards her_] Husband and wife. Where? You may die when I have made another Adam. ADAM. EVE. Let Eve vow to loveyou until your death. EVE. Do you love your godmother Eve? I am to be a mere convenience to make men for you to kill! THE SERPENT [_responding affectionately_] It is so, dear Adam. Superman! _Eve's face lights up with intense interest, which increases until anexpression of overwhelming repugnance takes its place. He turns his face to his right and callsexcitedly. I cleared away the thistles and briars. All present could attest to the truth of that, with no need for lying! Always 'Why?' I know the craftof fighting and of hunting: in a word, the craft of killing. ADAM. Oh no.How can you even think such a horror? 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