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Some have said that the acoustics at Shaw’s Corner are surprisingly good, better than some West End theatres. As for the minimalist staging, the acting area eventually moved from the lawns or under the trees to the gravel terrace outside the house, thus giving a natural ‘set’ backdrop with multiple exits, as well as enhancing the sound. Audiences also find sufficient staging cues embedded in the dialogue, so that, for example, when Raina’s bedroom candle repeatedly blows out in Arms and the Man, audiences relish imagining it from the spoken cues.

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One hazard of any open-air theatre, of course, is unpredictable weather, and – although generally blessed with sunny July evenings - this theatre has endured its share.  There are reports of the actors and the audience almost disappearing from each other’s view due to pouring rain, of actresses’ Victorian/Edwardian dresses subjected to “rising damp” from the ground up, and of actors sliding down into picnics. In one 1965 performance, Ellen Pollock’s production of Too True to be Good with Studio 68 was beset by a downpour, and cast and audience beat a retreat to the village hall, only to find that the four hundred or so people had no chance of all fitting in, so they trooped back and raised umbrellas to resume the performance on the lawns. 

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The audiences reportedly love all but the soaking and they can usually be counted on for appropriate responses to timely dialogue, as when in the 2008 Millionairess, in the midst of a global financial crisis, lines like “never put your money in a bank” brought great rounds of deeply felt applause.  Such interactive art seems to more than make up for the occasional rainy day.

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Ellen Pollock continued to perform at Ayot St Lawrence for many years. In 1969 she appeared in Mrs Warren’s Profession, and was still performing at Shaw's Corner in the 1980s when she herself was an octogenarian. Some of her presentations were at the Palladian Church, both inside the church itself, and on occasion outside, as when she read out Shaw’s letters to audiences sitting among the gravestones in the churchyard. One memorable performance at Shaw’s Corner was when she presented the Pygmalion tea party scene playing all the parts herself: she was famous for having played Eliza Doolittle in her youth and later Mrs Higgins to Diana Rigg’s Eliza. Ellen subsequently joined forces with famous actress Toni Kanal and her husband Benny Green, musician, writer and broadcaster to present many very varied programmes.

The National Trust eventually took over from the Shaw Society in organising the birthday celebrations and presenting the professional productions. In 1992 Toni Kanal formed an acting company called “Ayot Productions,” and was joined by renowned Shaw director Richard Digby Day who came from many years as director of the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park, London, and thus was well prepared for most of the difficulties at the open air theatre at “Shaw’s Corner.” From 1993, Michael Friend Productions presented a mid-June play, which became known as “The Summer Play,” while Ayot Productions presented “The Birthday Play” in late July for The Shaw Society.  When, in 2004, Ayot Productions decided not to continue with the July play, the late Michael Friend was asked by the National Trust to do both the June and the July play.   

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Since then Michael Friend Productions provided at least one, if not both, of the two annual plays at Shaw’s Corner, with touring productions at other times and other venues as well. Combined with its antecedent presentations and companies, Michael Friend Productions has played a significant part in maintaining Shaw’s dramatic presence in the modern world, and deserves to be better known and preserved as both a record of the times and as an element in the history of the theatre. Indeed Michael Friend himself deserves acknowledgment for his considerable accomplishments, although, as he acknowledged, he stood on the shoulders of his precursors who established and have continued this great tradition of Shaw performance for more than half a century.