This book restores Margaret Halstan and Mona Limerick to their rightful place in the history of Bernard Shaw’s theatre. Although Halstan enjoyed a thirty-year personal and professional relationship with Shaw and Limerick made a significant contribution to his evolving dramaturgy, both have been largely overlooked in Shavian biography and theatre history. Drawing on unpublished interviews, correspondence, and contemporary reviews, the book examines their performances, Shaw’s work as a director of his own plays, and the experiences of professional actresses of the period. It offers fresh insights into Shaw’s theatrical practice and the performers who helped bring his plays to life, making it a valuable resource for scholars and students of Shaw and theatre history.

Christopher Wixson is Professor of English and Theatre at Eastern Illinois University, USA. He is the author of Bernard Shaw and Modern Advertising: Prophet Motives (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), Bernard Shaw: A Very Short Introduction (2020), Bernard Shaw and Noël Coward: Conversation Pieces (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), and Bernard Shaw and St. John Hankin: Happy Endings (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025). In addition to book reviews and with essays for the Shaw Festival (Canada) house programme, he has published more than twenty articles in peer-reviewed journals. Since 2017, he has served as General Editor of SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, published twice a year by The Pennsylvania State University Press.