Heartbreak House, written during World War I and first performed in 1919, is George Bernard Shaw’s bleakly comic critique of British society’s complacency. Set in a decaying country house, the play gathers an eccentric cast of characters whose aimless conversations and inaction mirror the political drift that led to war. Blending Chekhovian atmosphere with sharp satire, Shaw explores themes of social decay, existential uncertainty, and moral responsibility. It is one of his most intellectually provocative and structurally unique plays.
