Arms and the Man

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]

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 idolizes. One night, a Swiss voluntary soldier in the Serbian army, Captain Bluntschli, bursts through her bedroom window and firstly threatens Raina, then 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), whom they think 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.

Afterwards, 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. Bluntschli gets a note informing him of his father's death and revealing to him his now enormous wealth. Louka then tells Sergius that Bluntschli is the man whom Raina protected, and that Raina is really in love with him. So Sergius challenges him to a duel, but the men avoid fighting and Sergius and Raina break off their engagement (with some relief on both sides). Raina's father discovers the portrait in the pocket of his housecoat, but Raina and Bluntschli trick him by taking out the portrait before he finds it again, only tell him that his mind is playing tricks on him. 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.

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.

Subsequent productions

• The first Broadway production opened on September 17, 1894 at New York City's Herald Square Theatre. Since then there have been six Broadway revivals, two of which are listed below.
• The most prestigious London revival was directed by John Burrell for The Old Vic Company at the New Theatre, which opened on 5 September 1944, starring Ralph Richardson (Bluntschli), Margaret Leighton (Raina Petkoff), Joyce Redman (Louka), and Laurence Olivier (Major Sergius Saranoff). "Olivier thought Sergius a humbug, a buffoon, a blackguard, a coward, 'a bloody awful part' until Tyrone Guthrie said he would never succeed in the role until he learned to love Sergius. Olivier, spurred and moustachioed, was high camp": Robert Tanitch^[2].
• 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".
• Marlon Brando's final stage appearance was in Arms and the Man in 1953. He gathered friends who were fellow actors into a company for a summer stock production. He chose to play Sergius while William Redfield starred as Bluntschli.
• 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 Raúl Juliá as "Sergius". The production ran from May 30 to September 1, 1985, for a total of 109 performances.
• The BBC produced a made-for-TV 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".

Adaptations

• 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 based on his Pygmalion.

• 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.

• An audio version was produced by the BBC starring Sir Ralph Richardson as "Captain Bluntschli" and John Gielgud as "Major Sergius Saranoff".

• An audio version was produced in 1999 by the CBC starring Simon Bradbury as "Captain Bluntschli", Elizabeth Brown as "Raina" and Andrew Gillies as "Major Saranoff".

• An audio version was produced in 2006 by the L.A. Theatre Works starring Jeremy Sisto as "Captain Bluntschli", Anne Heche as "Raina" and Teri Garr as "Catherine".

• An second BBC audio version was produced in 1984 and broadcast on BBC Radio 7 in February 2009 starring Andrew Sachs as "Captain Bluntschli" and Gary Bonds as "Major 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.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862646/

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Arms and the Man

• Scholarly article on Arms and the Man
• Study guide for Arms and the Man

References

1. ^ Frezza, Daniel. "About the Playwright: George Bernard Shaw", "Utah Shakespearean Festival," 2007. Accessed February 12, 2008. Shaw's contemporary, William Butler Yeats, was present for the performance, and rendered this quotation differently in his autobiography: "I assure the gentleman in the gallery that he and I are of exactly the same opinion, but what can we do against a whole house who are of the contrary opinion?" (Yeats, The Trembling of the Veil, book 4: The Tragic Generation, from Autobiographies, in The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats, vol. 3, ed. William H. O’Donell and Douglas N. Archibald (New York: Scribner, 1999), 221).
2. ^ London Stage in the 20th Century, by Robert Tanitch, Haus (2007) ISBN 9781904950745

v • d • e The plays of George Bernard Shaw Passion Play · Un Petit Drame · Widowers' Houses · The Philanderer · Mrs. Warren's Profession · Arms and the Man · Candida · The Man of Destiny · You Never Can Tell · The Devil's Disciple · The Gadfly · Caesar and Cleopatra · Captain Brassbound's Conversion · The Admirable Bashville · Man and Superman · John Bull's Other Island · How He Lied to Her Husband · Major Barbara · Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction · The Doctor's Dilemma · The Interlude at the Playhouse · Getting Married · The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet · Press Cuttings · Fascinating Foundling · The Glimpse of Reality · Misalliance · The Dark Lady of the Sonnets · Fanny's First Play · Androcles and the Lion · Overruled · Beauty's Duty · Pygmalion · Great Catherine · The Music Cure · O'Flaherty V.C. · The Inca of Perusalem · Augustus Does His Bit · Macbeth Skit · Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress · Heartbreak House · Back to Methuselah · A Glimpse of the Domesticity of Franklin Barnabas · Jitta's Atonement · Saint Joan · The Apple Cart · Too True to Be Good · How These Doctors Love One Another! · Village Wooing · On the Rocks · The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles · The Six of Calais · The Millionairess · Arthur and the Acetone · Cymbeline Refinished · Geneva · In Good King Charles's Golden Days · The British Party System · Buoyant Billions · Farfetched Fables · Shakes versus Shav · Why She Would Not