When Ellie Dunn joins a house-party at the home of the eccentric Captain Shotove
r, she causes a stir with her decision to marry for money rather than love, and
the Captain's forthright daughter Hesione protests vigorously against the pragma
tic young woman's choice. Opinion on the matter quickly divides and a lively arg
ument about money and morality, idealism and realism ensues as Hesione's rakish
husband, snobbish sister and Ellie's fiance a wealthy industrialist enter the de
bate. Written between 1916 and 1917 as war raged across Europe, Heartbreak House
is a telling indictment of the generation responsible for the First World War.
With its bold combination of high farce and bitter tragedy, Shaw's play remai
ns an uncannily prophetic depiction of a society on the threshold of an abrupt a
wakening.
