Fanny's First Play

Fanny's First Play by George Bernard Shaw. Fanny's First Play is a 1911 play by George Bernard Shaw. It was first performed as an anonymous piece, the authorship of which was to be kept secret. However, critics soon recognised it as the work of Shaw. It opened at the Little Theatre and ran for 622 performances. The mystery over the authorship helped to publicise it. It had the longest run of any of Shaw's plays. The play toured the provinces in England in the same year. It features a play within a play. In a country house, Fanny O'Dowda, the daughter of the Count O'Dowda, is putting on a play she has written. She has hired professional actors and invited major critics. Fanny, who has studied at Cambridge, is keeping her authorship secret. She expects that her father the Count will disapprove of the play, as he hates the vulgarity of modern life. He has only just returned to Britain from living in Venice.