Des explores the colourful romantic life of GB Shaw

When actor and writer Des Keogh penned a show about playwright, critic and philosopher George Bernard Shaw and the women in his life, there was ever only going to be one title.

Shaw’s best known work is Pygmalion, first staged in 1913, which subsequently became the film My Fair Lady.

As a result, Des decided that My Fair Ladies was perfect title for the show, which will come to the Town Hall Theatre next Friday and Saturday, June 5 and 6.

“A lot of the women in his life were involved in theatre,” says 80-year-old Des, one of Ireland’s best known stage and screen performers. “Shaw loved theatre. He was very involved in it and he fell for prominent actresses.”

These included Britain’s Queen of Stage at the time, Ellen Terry, as well as Mrs Patrick Campbell, who was the original Eliza Dolittle in Pygmalion. The man whom Des describes as “a bit of a late starter” when it came to sex, had passionate relationships, largely via letters, with both of them.

Shaw was indeed a late starter, even by Victorian standards, having his first sexual encounter at the age of 29 with his mother’s friend Jenny Patterson, a “tempestuous widow”, who was 15 years his senior. Theirs was a fraught relationship and broke up over his pursuit of the actress Florence Farr, who also had a relationship with WB Yeats, says Des.

During his 30s, Shaw had relationships with various women, frequently via letter, until eventually at the age of 40 he met Irish heiress Charlotte Payne Townshend. They married when they were both 42 and while it seems their 45-year marriage was never consummated – by mutual consent – they were perfectly happy together.

Mrs Patrick Campbell was the big love of his life, says Des, although they never got to consummate their relationship either. There was one occasion when it looked as though they would but fate intervened and robbed them of the chance.

Some of Des’s material is drawn from the correspondence between Shaw and the various women.  These letters show the softer side of a man who was known for his trenchant views on everything from women’s rights to vegetarianism.

“I refer to the letters and quote some of them,” says Des, who has appeared in just a few of Shaw’s plays during his long career. “My big idea was to come up with a show that audiences would find entertaining. Shaw was a very amusing man.”

In addition to reading Michael Holroyd’s exhaustive biography of Shaw, Des also drew on My Astonishing Self, a one-man show on the life of playwright George Bernard Shaw. This was first performed in the 1970s by Des’s late friend, the actor and writer Donal Donnelly,

“Some years ago I asked Donal If I could have a look at the script and he gave me carte blanche to use it. I’ve been inspired by it, but have taken a very different angle,” Des explains, adding that his approach is less academic.

Des has been living with the piece for some time, first while writing it and now as its performer, under the direction of Pat Talbot. It premiered in Clontarf’s Viking Theatre in April and it currently is on a countrywide tour.

“It doesn’t get easier as you get older,” says Des of learning lines, even ones he wrote himself. “But I’m still very fortunate in that I have a great capacity for learning and I still enjoy the process.”

■ My Fair Ladies will be at the Town Hall Theatre next Friday, June 5 and Saturday, June 6 at 8pm nightly. Tickets are €20/18 from tht.ie, 091-569777 or at the box office.