Shakes Versus Shav

Shakes versus Shav (1949) is a puppet play written by George Bernard Shaw. It was Shaw's penultimate dramatic work. The play runs for 20 minutes in performance.

The play was written by Shaw for the Lanchester Marionettes who were based in their own theatre in Foley House, Malvern, Worcestershire, UK. The company's founders, Waldo and Muriel Lanchester, performed regularly in the Malvern Festival. Shaw, having seen their performances over the years, wrote Shakes Versus Shav for the company in 1949. The play comprises a comic argument between the two playwrights, as a form of intellectual equivalent of Punch and Judy.

In 2007 it was revived by Henry Bell at the Orange Tree Theatre with Dudley Hinton and John Paul Connelly playing the parts written for puppets. John Thaxter of The Stage described it as 'history making'.