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Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw - Peter Shirley

- BOVTS at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. Directed by David Phethean.

Written in 1905, Major Barbara is Shaw's plea to make capitalism the servant of the State and the Church rather than their master - only when poverty is banished can humankind achieve it's full potential. The argument is as pertinent now as it was then although, a century on, Shaw's claim that to banish poverty is to banish crime that springs from want appears almost absurdly idealistic.

Nonetheless, Major Barbara is a suberbly argued and dramatic work, full of rich, complex characters and strong situations, and in Major Barbara herself and her capitalist, arms-manufacturing father Andrew Undershaft Shaw created two of his strongest and most vibrant characters.

I only had a tiny part in this final year production on the main stage of the Theatre Royal - the elderly Peter Shirley. I used to spend an hour doing the make-up for Shirley, carefully contouring and shading my youthful features to create the impression of age (thank you Richard Corson for the bible 'Stage Make-up'). That degree of commitment wouldn't last long, belive me! A few years into my career and if I could get away with it it was a quick wipe-over of base two minutes before I made my first entrance!