Heartbreak House

When Ellie Dunn joins a house-party at the home of the eccentric Captain Shotover, she causes a stir with her decision to marry for money rather than love, and the Captains forthright daughter Hesione protests vigorously against the pragmatic young womans choice. Opinion on the matter quickly divides and a lively argument about money and morality, idealism and realism ensues as Hesiones rakish husband, snobbish sister and Ellies fiance - a wealthy industrialist - enter the debate. 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, Shaws play remains an uncannily prophetic depiction of a society on the threshold of an abrupt awakening.