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Sheppey: A Play in Three Acts
a play in three acts
- GenresPlays
157 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
1 person is currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
W. Somerset Maugham
2,118 books6,077 followersWilliam Somerset Maugham was born in Paris in 1874. He spoke French even before he spoke a word of English, a fact to which some critics attribute the purity of his style.
His parents died early and, after an unhappy boyhood, which he recorded poignantly in Of Human Bondage, Maugham became a qualified physician. But writing was his true vocation. For ten years before his first success, he almost literally starved while pouring out novels and plays.
Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature such as that of William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf was gaining increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim. In this context, his plain prose style was criticized as 'such a tissue of clichés' that one's wonder is finally aroused at the writer's ability to assemble so many and at his unfailing inability to put anything in an individual way.
During World War I, Maugham worked for the British Secret Service . He travelled all over the world, and made many visits to America. After World War II, Maugham made his home in south of France and continued to move between England and Nice till his death in 1965.
At the time of Maugham's birth, French law was such that all foreign boys born in France became liable for conscription. Thus, Maugham was born within the Embassy, legally recognized as UK territory.
His parents died early and, after an unhappy boyhood, which he recorded poignantly in Of Human Bondage, Maugham became a qualified physician. But writing was his true vocation. For ten years before his first success, he almost literally starved while pouring out novels and plays.
Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature such as that of William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf was gaining increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim. In this context, his plain prose style was criticized as 'such a tissue of clichés' that one's wonder is finally aroused at the writer's ability to assemble so many and at his unfailing inability to put anything in an individual way.
During World War I, Maugham worked for the British Secret Service . He travelled all over the world, and made many visits to America. After World War II, Maugham made his home in south of France and continued to move between England and Nice till his death in 1965.
At the time of Maugham's birth, French law was such that all foreign boys born in France became liable for conscription. Thus, Maugham was born within the Embassy, legally recognized as UK territory.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 4, 2015
عامپسندِ خوب.
April 6, 2015
حس می کنم کار خوبی کردم که بعد از یک رمان ، یک نمایشنامه هم از موآم خوندم . روند نمایشنامه یک روند خیلی خوب و منطقیه و دغدغههای موآم هم تقریباً داره مشخص میشه . دین ، مذهب ، خدا ، سبک زندگی و مفاهیمی از این دست رو می توان در هر دو کار موآم دید .
با این نمایشنامه بیش از پیش علاقهمند شدم تا " پایبندیهای انسانی " رو هم از موآم بخونم .
با این نمایشنامه بیش از پیش علاقهمند شدم تا " پایبندیهای انسانی " رو هم از موآم بخونم .
August 5, 2023
Read in Persian. Horrifyingly awful translation. Not Mr. Maugham's first-class work.
August 23, 2025
پرده اول رو خیلی بیشتر دوست داشتم و صحنه آخرش به نظرم ملودرامتیک بود. توی کلیتش تمثیل مذهبی درشتی بود که برام دلپذیر نبود ولی جزئیات جالبی داشت.
June 21, 2020
Sheppey, a hairdresser's assistant, wins over eight thou- sand pounds in the Irish Sweep and decides to give away all the money to charity. His family, who have made grand plans, are flabbergasted and think he is crazy. Specialists are consulted and they agree. Dr. Jervis says no sane man gives away all his money to the poor. "A sane man takes money from the poor." Dr. Ennismore regards all philanthropy as the direct result of repressed homosexuality. With proper education of the young, he says, all philanthropy could be stamped out of the country. They are about to shut Sheppey up in a lunatic asylum when suddenly he is found
dead in his chair.
Maugham called this play a sardonic comedy. The last scene is not very pleasing.
It's too bad that Sheppey popped off just when he was "going to do a bit of good in the world."
dead in his chair.
Maugham called this play a sardonic comedy. The last scene is not very pleasing.
It's too bad that Sheppey popped off just when he was "going to do a bit of good in the world."
February 11, 2021
Love this play.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews