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'{{Infobox play | name = Arms and the Man | image = | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = | writer = [[George Bernard Shaw]] | chorus = | characters = | mute = | setting = | premiere = {{Start date|1894|04|21}} | place = [[Avenue Theatre]] | orig_lang = | series = | subject = | genre = | web = | playbill = | ibdb_id = | iobdb_id = }} '''''Arms and the Man''''' is a [[comedy]] by [[George Bernard Shaw]], whose title comes from the opening words of [[Virgil]]'s [[Aeneid]] in Latin: ''Arma virumque cano'' ("Arms and the man I sing"). 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 (play)|Candida]]'', ''[[You Never Can Tell (play)|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?"<ref>Frezza, Daniel. [http://www.bard.org/education/resources/other/candidaplaywright.html "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).</ref> ''Arms and the Man'' is a humorous play which shows the futility of war and deals with the hypocrisies of human nature in a comedic fashion. ==Plot summary== The play takes place during the 1885 [[Serbo-Bulgarian War]]. Its heroine, Raina (rah-EE-na) Petkoff, is a young [[Bulgaria]]n woman engaged to Sergius Saranoff, one of the heroes of that war, whom she idolizes. One night, a [[Switzerland|Swiss]] mercenary 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, Catherine, 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). 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 man avoids fighting and Sergius and Raina break off their engagement (with some relief on both sides). Raina's father, Paul, 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. ==Critical acclaim== [[George Orwell]] said that ''Arms and the Man'' was written when Shaw was at the height of his powers as a dramatist. "It is probably the wittiest play he ever wrote, the most flawless technically, and in spite of being a very light comedy, the most telling." Orwell says that ''Arms and the Man'' wears well--he was writing 50 years later--because its moral--that war is not a wonderful, romantic adventure--still needs to be told. His other plays of the period, equally well written, are about issues no longer controversial. For example, the theme of ''Mrs. Warren's Profession'', which so shocked audiences at the time, was that the causes of prostitution are mainly economic, hardly big news today, and the play ''Widowers' Houses'' was an attack on slum landlords, which are now held in such low esteem that the matter is hardly controversial.<ref>George Orwell,''George Bernard Shaw'', Chapter 8 in ''George Orwell, The Lost Writings'', Edited by W. J. West, Arbor House, New York, 1985.This also appears as Chapter 8 in ''Orwell, The War Broadcasts'', Edited by W. J .West, The British Broadcasting Corporation, and The Old Piano Factory, London, 1985.</ref> ==Subsequent productions== * The first [[Broadway theatre|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 (director)|John Burrell]] for The [[Old Vic Theatre|Old Vic]] Company at the [[Noël Coward Theatre|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.<ref>London Stage in the 20th Century, by Robert Tanitch, Haus (2007) ISBN 978-1-904950-74-5</ref> * 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 (actor)|William Redfield]] starred as Bluntschli. * The play has been produced 5 times at the [[Shaw Festival]], in 1967, 1976, 1984, 1996, and 2006. * The play was produced in 1982 at the [[Stratford Shakespeare Festival]], with [[Brian Bedford]] as Bluntschli and [[Len Cariou]] 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 [[Raúl Juliá]] as Sergius. The production ran from May 30 to September 1, 1985, for a total of 109 performances. * The [[BBC]] produced a [http://www.bbcamericashop.com/default.asp?cpa=product&id=3734&ctl=81&cc=21242&tt= 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. * In 2011 the play was presented by the [[Guthrie Theater]] in Minneapolis, Minnesota, The Seattle Public Theater in Seattle, Washington state, and the Constellation Theatre Company in Washington DC. * In 2013 [http://www.odysseytheatre.ca Odyssey Theatre] in Ottawa, ON, Canada is putting on a masked performance of this play. ==Adaptations== [[File:Chocolate Soldier - Workman.jpg|thumb|The scene in ''[[The Chocolate Soldier]]'' in which Bumerli (the equivalent of Bluntschli) enters the bedroom of Nadina (the equivalent of Raina), in a 1910 London production]] When Shaw gave Leopold Jacobson the rights to adapt the play into what became the 1908 operatta [[The Chocolate Soldier]] with music by [[Oscar Straus (composer)|Oscar Straus]], he provided three conditions: none of Shaw's dialogue, nor any of his character's names, could be used; the libretto must be advertised as being a ''parody'' of Shaw's work; and Shaw would accept no monetary compensation. In spite of this, Shaw's original plot, and with it the central message of the play, remained more or less untouched.<ref name="bare_url">Ellwood Annaheim (February 2002). "Shaw's Folly – Straus' Fortune". Archived from the original on June 20, 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20050620092840/www.geocities.com/musictheater/chocolate/chocolate.html.</ref> Shaw despised the result, calling it "a putrid ''opera bouffe'' in the worst taste of 1860", but grew to regret not accepting payment when, despite his opinion of the work, it became a lucrative international success.<ref name="bare_url" /> When Shaw heard, in 1921, that [[Franz Lehár]] wanted to set his play ''[[Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]]'' to music, he sent word to Vienna that Lehár be instructed that he could not touch ''Pygmalion'' without infringing Shaw's copyright and that Shaw had "no intention of allowing the history of ''The Chocolate Soldier'' to be repeated"<ref name="bare_url" /> (only after Shaw's death was ''Pygmalion'' eventually adapted by [[Lerner and Loewe]] as ''[[My Fair Lady]]''). A British film adaptation was directed in [[1932 in film|1932]] by [[Cecil Arthur Lewis|Cecil Lewis]]. It starred [[Barry Jones (actor)|Barry Jones]] as Bluntschli and [[Anne Grey]] as Raina. A filmed version of ''Arms and the Man'' in [[German language|German]] entitled ''[[Arms and the Man (film)|Helden]]'' (''Heroes'') starring [[O. W. Fischer]] and [[Liselotte Pulver]] was runner up for the [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]] in [[1958 in film|1958]]. An audio version was produced by the [[BBC]] starring [[Ralph Richardson]] as Captain Bluntschli and [[John Gielgud]] as Major Sergius Saranoff. A 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 third version was broadcast on [[BBC Radio 3]] on March 21, 2010 starring [[Rory Kinnear]] as Captain Bluntschli, [[Lydia Leonard]] as Raina and [[Tom Mison]] as Major Saranoff. This production was produced by [[Nicolas Soames]] and directed by [[David Timson]]. An audio version was produced in 1999 by the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]] starring [[Simon Bradbury]] as Captain Bluntschli, [[Elizabeth Brown (actor)|Elizabeth Brown]] as Raina and [[Andrew Gillies]] as Major Saranoff. Another 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. A [[musical theatre|musical]] by [[Udo Jürgens]], ''Helden, Helden'', also based on Shaw's play, premiered at the [[Theater an der Wien]], [[Vienna]], Austria in 1973. ==Pejorative military use of the term "chocolate soldier"== The chocolate-cream soldier of the play has inspired a pejorative military use of the term. In [[Israel]], soldiers use the term "chocolate soldier" (Hayal Shel Shokolad, חייל של שוקולד) to describe a soft soldier who is unable to fight well.<ref>Rosenthal, Ruvik. ''[[Maariv (newspaper)|Maariv]]'', September 11, 2007</ref> Similarly, members of the Australian [[Citizens Military Force]] were derided by the regular army as "chokos" or chocolate soldiers, the implication being that they were not real soldiers.<ref>[http://www.livinghistory.com.au/Characters/ausanzac.htm "Australian Soldier – Kokoda Track 1942"], livinghistory.com, accessed 22 September 2010</ref><ref>[http://www.battleforaustralia.org.au/2903/Overview/Kokoda_Trail_1 "Kokoda Trail I"], ''Battle For Australia'', accessed 22 September 2010</ref> ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{wikisource|Arms and the Man (Shaw)|Arms and the Man}} * [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3618 The script of ''Arms and the Man'' at Project Gutenberg] * {{ibdb show|1681}} * [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862646/ Internet Movie Database entry for ''Arms and the Man''] * {{cite web | last=McNabb | first=Jim | url=http://www.artsalive.ca/pdf/eth/activities/arms_guide.pdf | title=''Arms and the Man'' by George Bernard Shaw : Study Guide | publisher=National Arts Centre | location=Ottawa | accessdate = 2011-04-12}} * {{cite web | last=Smith | first=Nicole | url=http://www.articlemyriad.com/51.htm | title=''Arms and the Man'' by George Bernard Shaw : Class and Social Critique in the Play | accessdate = 2011-04-12 }} {{George Bernard Shaw}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Arms And The Man}} [[Category:1894 plays]] [[Category:Plays by George Bernard Shaw]] [[Category:Plays adapted into films]] [[Category:Serbo-Bulgarian War]]'