# Lord Chamberlain — Short Plays character guide

> Lord Chamberlain in Short Plays by George Bernard Shaw.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the Lord Chamberlain, The Lord Chamberlain, the Japanese Lord Chamberlain, Lord Chamberlain

**First appearance:** 0022-the-rejected-statement-part-i

## Snapshot

A theatrical censor whose officious judgment on plays and players becomes Shaw's satirical weapon against the licensing of art by bureaucrats.

## Who they are

The Lord Chamberlain presides over the stage with the confidence of a man who believes regulation and taste are the same thing. His pronouncements on actors, authors, and the dangers of the drama reveal a censor more concerned with propriety than with the living theatre he claims to protect. In The Rejected Statement, his fussy authority becomes the target of Shaw's argument that official interference stifles the very art it purports to serve.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_plays_se/characters/lord_chamberlain
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_plays_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_plays_se/characters