George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) An Irish playwright,critic, and political activist, regarded as the greatest dramatist in the English language during the first half of the 20th Century for the plays he had written at the height of his creativity. 4George Bernard Shaw 4 (1856 -1950) An Irish playwright, critic, and political activist, regarded as the greatest dramatist in the English language during the first half of the 20th Century for the plays he had written at the height of his creativity