Arms and the Man
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| Arms and the Man | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | George Bernard Shaw |
| Release date(s) | April 21, 1894 |
Arms and the Man is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw. Its title comes from the opening words of Virgil's Aeneid: "Arma virumque cano" (Of arms and the man I sing). (Perseus Project A.1.1)
The play was first produced on April 21, 1894 at the Avenue Theatre, and published in 1898 as part of Shaw's Plays Pleasant volume, which also included Candida, You Never Can Tell, and The Man of Destiny. The play was one of Shaw's first commercial successes. He was called onto stage after the curtain, where he received enthusiastic applause. However, amidst the cheers, one audience member booed. Shaw replied, in characteristic fashion: "My dear fellow, I quite agree with you, but what are we two against so many?"[1]
Shaw's plays often question conventional values, and Arms and the Man is no exception. Its satirical targets are false notions of both war and love.
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[edit] Plot summary
The play takes place during the 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War. Its heroine, Raina (rah-EE-na) Petkoff, is a young Bulgarian woman engaged to Sergius Saranoff, one of the heroes of that war, whom she idealizes. One night, a Swiss voluntary soldier in the Serbian army, Bluntschli, bursts through her bedroom window and begs her to hide him, so that he is not killed. Raina complies, though she thinks the man a coward, especially when he tells her that he does not carry pistol cartridges, but chocolates. When the battle dies down, Raina and her mother sneak Bluntschli out of the house, disguised in an old housecoat.
The war ends and Sergius returns to Raina, but also flirts with her insolent servant girl Louka (a soubrette role), who is engaged to the loyal house servant Nicola. Raina begins to find Sergius both foolhardy and tiresome, but she hides it. Bluntschli unexpectedly returns so that he can give back the old housecoat, but also so that he can see her. Raina and her mother are shocked, especially when her father and Sergius reveal that they have met Bluntschli before and invite him to stay for lunch and to help them with troop movements.
Later, left alone with Bluntschli, Raina realizes that he sees through her romantic posturing but that he respects her as a woman, as Sergius does not. She tells him that she had left a portrait of herself in the pocket of the coat, inscribed "To my chocolate-cream soldier," but Bluntschli says that he didn't find it and that it must still be in the coat pocket. Louka tells Sergius that Bluntschli is the man who Raina protected and that Raina is really in love with him, so Sergius challenges him to a duel, but the men avoid fighting and Serguis and Raina break off their engagement (with some relief on both sides). Raina's father discovers the portrait in the pocket of his housecoat, and after Bluntschli reveals the whole story to Major Petkoff Sergius proposes marriage to Louka (to Mrs. Petkoff's horror). Nicola quietly and gallantly lets Sergius have her, and Bluntschli, recognising Nicola's dedication and ability, determines to offer him a job as a hotel manager.
News arrives that Bluntschli's father has just died, leaving him a grand inheritance of Swiss luxury hotels. Raina, having realized the hollowness of her romantic ideals and her fiancé's values, protests that she would prefer her poor "chocolate-cream soldier" to this wealthy businessman. Bluntschli says that he is still the same person, and the play ends with Raina proclaiming her love for him and Bluntschli, with Swiss precision, both clearing up the major's troop movement problems and informing everyone that he will return to be married to Raina exactly two weeks from Tuesday.
[edit] Subsequent productions
The first Broadway production opened on September 17, 1894 at New York City's Herald Square Theatre. To date, there have been six Broadway revivals, two of which are mentioned below. A revival production ran at New York City's Arena Theatre from October 19, 1950 to January 21, 1951, for a total of 108 performances. The cast included Lee Grant as "Raina", Francis Lederer as "Bluntschli" and Sam Wanamaker as "Sergius". In 1985 John Malkovich directed a revival production at New York City's Circle in the Square Theatre starring Kevin Kline as "Bluntschli" (later replaced by Malkovich after Kline's departure), Glenne Headly as "Raina" and Raul Julia as "Sergius". The production ran from May 30 to September 1, 1985, for a total of 109 performances.
The BBC produced a version in 1989, directed by James Cellan Jones, starring Helena Bonham Carter as "Raina", Pip Torrens as "Bluntschli", Patrick Ryecart as "Sergius" and Patsy Kensit as "Louka".
[edit] Adaptations
- A British film adaptation of 1932 was directed by Cecil Lewis. It starred Barry Jones as Bluntschli and Anne Grey as Raina.
- A filmed version of Arms and the Man in German entitled Helden ("Heroes") starring O. W. Fischer and Liselotte Pulver was runner up for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1958.
- Shaw sold the rights to adapt the play into a Viennese operetta, certain that it would never be produced. However, it became an international hit as The Chocolate Soldier (1908), and Shaw vowed never to sell musicalization rights again. His estate eventually relented, allowing the production of My Fair Lady.
- An audio version was produced by the BBC starring Sir Ralph Richardson as "Captain Bluntschli" and Sir John Gielgud as "Major Sergius Saranoff".
- A musical by Udo Jürgens, Helden, Helden, which is also based on Shaw's play, premiered at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, Austria in 1973.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Frezza, Daniel. "About the Playwright: George Bernard Shaw", "Utah Shakespearean Festival," 2007. Accessed February 12, 2008.
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