Shaw was a "theater maniac." Once he got involved in theater affairs, he was like a race car with full throttle, speeding ahead at top speed, from revising scripts to finding theaters, all accomplished in just two days.
On this clear morning, Shaw took Landau and boarded a carriage. Natsume Soseki had no classes, but he was forcefully dragged along by Landau to join in the fun.
On the way, Shaw explained, "Landau, didn't we discuss the theater before? The Royal Opera House is definitely out of the question, so I used a little personal connection and chose the Lyceum Theatre."
Landau had no idea about the size of the theater and asked, "Is it a small place?"
Shaw nodded, "Yes, not very big."
"But..."
Landau lifted the curtain of the carriage and saw that they were heading towards Westminster. Westminster was the core area of London. Could there be a small theater there? Landau was puzzled.
At that moment, the coachman gently flicked the reins, and the carriage turned onto a spacious main road, accelerating forward, finally stopping in front of a rather magnificent building.
The entrance of the building was grand, with intricately carved marble.
Above the door, the name of the theater was written—Lyceum Theatre.
Landau felt that the name sounded somewhat familiar and couldn't help but ponder for a moment.
After a while, he widened his eyes and said, "Lyceum Theatre is indeed translated into Chinese as 'Laisiyium Theater,' but in some cases, it can also be translated as 'Lanxin Grand Theater.'"
Just like how Westminster can also be translated as "Ximin City," they actually refer to the same place.
"Gulp..."
Landau swallowed nervously, "Mr. Headmaster, is this the small theater you mentioned?"
Shaw sighed, "Ah, with less than fifteen hundred seats, it's indeed too small."
This is still small?
The Royal Opera House only has 2250 seats.
Landau was speechless. Although he didn't know much about theater history, he had heard of the Lyceum Theatre. The theater was very famous. It was so renowned that it was once renamed the English Opera House from 1816 to 1830. In China, to pay homage to it, a theater funded by British expatriates was also named Lyceum Theatre.
Shaw chuckled, "I'm very familiar with the manager of this theater."
With that, he led Landau and Natsume Soseki into the entrance.
The theater was dark inside, with only faint light visible. From afar, the three could hear the extremely noisy construction sounds near the stage, as well as the shouts and cries of the workers, presumably working on the stage set.
Shaw walked at the forefront, following the sounds.
Before long, they arrived at the seating area directly facing the stage.
An English gentleman in front of the stage turned around.
"Joe!"
Shaw's full name is George Bernard Shaw, and Joe is his nickname. It was evident that the two had a good relationship.
Shaw walked up quickly and pointed to the man, saying, "Let me introduce you. This is Sir Henry Irving, a famous actor and director, and also the manager of the Lyceum Theatre. He's not very bright, but he's quite the character."
Irving snorted, "Get lost!"
He gave Shaw's shoulder a punch, then turned to Landau, curiously looking him up and down.
After a while, he asked, "Are you Lu?"
Shaw interjected, "In school, we usually call him 'Professor Lu.'"
Landau waved his hands repeatedly, "Sir Irving, as an actor who has been knighted, I should keep a low profile in front of you."
Seeing Landau's high emotional intelligence, Irving couldn't help but smile and praise, "In front of Professor Lu, I should be the one keeping a low profile. I've read your 'Yes! Prime Minister' before. The script is really excellent."
Shaw nodded, "Indeed, 'Yes! Prime Minister' will surely go down in history."
Seeing the two exchanging words so tacitly, Landau couldn't help but feel curious. He whispered to Shaw, "Headmaster, how did you get to know Sir Irving?"
Shaw's expression stiffened for a moment, but soon he confidently smiled and said, "To be immodest, which theater manager wouldn't want to know me?"
This statement was not an exaggeration. Shaw's influence on theater was extremely profound. Almost all the well-known actors could be considered Shaw's disciples.
However, Irving beside him snorted again and mentioned a name: "Ellen."
This name seemed to have endless power, causing Shaw to bite his tongue and cough violently.
Landau suddenly remembered a poster he saw when entering the theater, featuring a female star named Ellen Terry, the leading actress under Irving.
A male writer and a female star...
"Tsk..."
Landau clicked his tongue, and his gaze towards Shaw changed.
He didn't expect the old guy to be so playful; it was like a plot straight out of a modern novel copied from online fiction.
Under Landau's scrutiny, Shaw became even more embarrassed.
"Landau, don't listen to his nonsense."
A smile crept up on Landau's lips. Just now, he recalled another book— "The Correspondence of Shaw".
The letters inside were all written by Shaw to Terry, and Shaw even admitted in the letters that "The Transformation of Captain Brassbound" was specifically created for Terry.
Of course, this couldn't be taken at face value. Men's words were deceiving, and lying to get women into bed was highly probable.
Shaw cleared his throat, "Alright, let's get down to business."
He handed the script to Irving and said, "This is all of it. I stayed up all night to help Landau polish it, ensuring it retains its original flavor, without the usual lyricism, sentimentality, seriousness, or elegance, but rather aiming for humor and colloquialism. Of course, Hamphrey's lines remain unchanged, and in many places, they still sound like tongue twisters."
"Tongue twisters?"
Irving examined it carefully.
Shaw pointed with his finger, "It's that part, the dialogue between Hamphrey and Jim. Jim thinks battleships are pure bluffs and won't fool Germany, and the navy probably won't use them frequently. Hamphrey's response is exceptionally brilliant."
(Actually, battleships can still fight.)
Irving stared at the script and read aloud:
"Jim: The navy probably won't use them.
Hamphrey: But they don't know that the navy probably won't use them.
Jim: They probably know.
Hamphrey: Yes, probably, but they can't be sure that the navy really won't use them.
..."
Shaw listened with closed eyes and said, "Next, Jim will say, 'They probably really know.' Alright, Henry, you continue."
Irving didn't respond.
"..."
Shaw said, "Keep going."
Irving glared fiercely at Shaw, then turned to a performer on stage and said, "Charles, there's a line here, you try it."
A chubby man ran over, panting.
Irving introduced, "Charles Lawton, my right-hand man. He can show profound emotions and superb acting skills on stage, captivating the audience."
Lawton was somewhat flattered by the praise. He bowed to everyone, then took the script, confidently reciting:
"'Yes, even if they might really know that the navy won't use them, they're not sure, even though the navy probably won't use the navy...'"
Cough! Cough... Haha...
Before he could finish, Lawton coughed and wheezed like a bull.
Shaw shrugged, "See, I had to read this tongue twister three times to fully understand the logic."