Candida

Candida. Arnold Daly first offered Shaw's play at a special matinee in 1903 with Dorothy Donnelly as Candida and himself as Marchbanks. The reception was such that additional matinees were given and then a four‐month run followed. Curiously, its good reception was largely the result of word of mouth, since many critics initially ignored the play. Its story of a woman who must choose between a visionary and a practical socialist was less beset by matters of passing topical interest and had more of a genuine love story than virtually any other major Shaw play, and so has retained a loyal following. Of its many revivals, most beloved were those by Katharine Cornell, who first played the part in 1924 when she gave it its longest run to date, five months. She brilliantly juxtaposed the heroine's frailty and strength, giving a performance Stark Young found “so delicate and translucent and moving as we rarely see.” Richard Bird was her first Marchbanks, but the role was assumed in her later revivals by such eventually more famous actors as Orson Welles, Burgess Meredith, and Marlon Brando. Other New York productions of Candida featured Olivia de Havilland in 1952, Celeste Holm in 1970, Joanne Woodward in 1981, and Mary Steenburgen in 1993.