Plays

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Buoyant Billions

A Comedy of No Manners

OVERVIEW

  • Playwright

    George Bernard (GB) Shaw 

  • Setting

    Shortly after the end of the Second World War.

  • Synopsis

    A rich young man on a mission to become a professional "World Betterer" travels to Panama and develops a fascination with an heiress and her unusual family.

  • Play Type

    Plays General

    Number Of Acts

    Full-Length

    • Cast size

  • Male

    9

  • Female

    4

  • Total

    13

Original Production

  • Date of First Production

    13 August 1949

  • Production Notes

    Buoyant Billions was first performed in German at the Schauspielhaus in Zurich on the 21st October 1948. The Malvern Festival production listed here was the first time for the play to be presented in English.

  • Venue Notes

    First performed at the Festival Theatre, Malvern.

Original Cast  
Mr Secondborn (Dick Buoyant) Dermot Walsh
Mrs Thirdborn (Mrs Harvey Buoyant) Peggy Burt
Mrs Secondborn Sylvia Coleridge
Eudoxia Emily ("Darkie") Buoyant Jasmine Dee
The Widower ( Tom Buoyant) Dennis Cannan
Sir Ferdinand Flopper John Longden
The Chinese Priest Arthur Hewlett
The Native Kenneth Mackintosh
Clementina Alexandra Buoyant ("Babzy" or "Clemmy") Frances Day
Junius Smith Denholm Elliott
Bastable ("Old Bill") Buoyant Maitland Moss
Junius' Father Donald Eccles
Frederick ("Fiffy") Buoyant Peter Bartlett

Published Scripts

  • Title

    The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Volume 7

  • Year

    1974

  • Published By

    The Bodley Head

  • Address

    England

  • ISBN

    0370106679

Rights Information

Source Of Information

The information for this entry was taken from The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Volume 7.