was written by Bernard Shaw, as the paradoxical statements about the English by the French character are a dead giveaway. Vaughan dismisses this because the characters are too believable: "That proves it's not by Shaw, because all Shaw's characters are himself: mere puppets stuck up to spout Shaw." One critic, Trotter, realises the truth. Fanny admits that she was the author, and the critics all join in praise of her. Trotter thinks that the account of imprisonment has an air of authenticity to it. Fanny confesses that, yes, she has been in prison, for her activities as a militant suffragette. Fanny's father now has to adjust to the fact that his daughter is both a malefactor and a playwright. Preface Shaw introduced the published text of the work with a few words: "Being a potboiler it needs no preface. Its lesson is not, I am sorry to say, unneeded--that in an age when custom has been substituted for conscience, and the middle class are as dead as mutton, the young had better get into trouble to have their souls awakened by disgrace." Production and critical response The play was first produced in April, 1911, having been hurriedly rehearsed because the previous production, of Ibsen's The Master Builder, had ended early. Shaw was convinced that creating a mystery about the authorship of the play would be ideal publicity. Because of the similarity of the character of Juggins to Crichton in J.M. Barrie's play The Admirable Crichton, Shaw hoped the public might be deceived. "Let people think the play is by Barrie" he said. He told Lillah McCarthy, who played the lead role, to "do everything to suggest the play is by Barrie". C. B. Purdom thinks that this might have worked had it not been for the framer play. "Had it not been for this audacity, there might have been a chance of mystifying the public about the authorship, for Shaw had written nothing so 'easy' and nothing so transparently sincere." The critics in the frame-play express various opinions of Shaw's works, but make only brief mention of other authors. Even the theatre programme identified the author as "Xxxxxxx Xxxx", a pattern of letters that clearly points to "Bernard Shaw". Despite this, Shaw maintained a facade of secrecy about the authorship when he was repeatedly questioned about it by reporters. He told the Pall Mall Gazette "nothing shall ever induce me