{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O146251"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O146251/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009BY0136/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009BY0136/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009BY0136","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O146251","accessionNumber":"S.834-1991","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Dress rehearsal for <i>Androcles and the Lion</i>","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"A posed action shot featuring Harley Granville Barker and Lillah McCarthy being attacked by playwright George Bernard Shaw, in rehearsals for <i>Androcles and the Lion</i>. Actor-director Barker had overseen the rehearsals until Shaw interrupted, adding his own unique twist to the proceedings.\r\n\r\nGeorge Bernard Shaw adapted the fable of <i>Androcles and the Lion</i>, in which a Roman slave in the Colosseum is saved by the reciprocated mercy of a lion, in order to examine Christian faith in contemporary Britain. At the time, non-believers in public life were pressured by the Christian Church; Shaw used his writing to convey his belief that the most important part of religion was not ostentatious faith but rather earnestness and a lack of hypocrisy.\r\n\r\nThe photographer Langdon Coburn was a member of the Photo-Secession, a group involved in raising the standards of pictorial photography. He became friends with George Bernard Shaw, whom he regularly photographed, alongside other literary and artistic figures to whom Shaw introduced him.","physicalDescription":"Black and white photograph of two men and a woman onstage, the men fighting with swords and shields, while the woman kneels in front.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Coburn, Alvin Langdon","id":"A1101"},"association":{"text":"photographers","id":"AAT25687"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gelatin-silver print","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2009BY0136"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"009","id":"THES356623"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photographs","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1913","earliest":"1913-01-01","latest":"1913-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"21.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"28","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"George Bernard Shaw and the director Harley Granville Barker demonstrate a fight for Shaw's Androcles and the Lion, St James's Theatre, 1913.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Dress rehearsal for Androcles and the Lion\r\n1913\r\n\r\nA posed 'action' shot featuring Harley Granville Barker and Lillah McCarthy being 'attacked' by playwright George Bernard Shaw. Actor/director Barker had overseen the rehearsals until Shaw interrupted, adding his own unique twist to the proceedings. Fellow actor Hesketh Pearson said that Shaw 'danced about the stage…always exaggerating so as to prevent us from imitating him'. [55 words]\r\n\r\nPlay by George Bernard Shaw, 1912 \r\nSt James's Theatre, London\r\n\r\nGelatin-silver print\r\nBy Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966)\t\r\n\r\nMuseum no. S.834-1991","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["S.834-1991"],"accessionNumberNum":"834","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1991,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN7463","2019LP7920","2019LT7234","2019LT8457"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"2008-02-27","availableToBook":true}}