Nobel Prize and Academy Award winner George Bernard Shaw is widely considered one of the greatest playwrights of all time. His works are witty and insightful, both laugh-out-loud funny and intently serious -- the kind of plays that are a joy for actors and audiences alike.
So get ready to share the joy. This week, the theater department will present Dartmouth's Winter term Mainstage play, "Arms and the Man," one of Shaw's most beloved works. Directed by associate theater professor Jamie Horton, the play brings us inside a world beyond our everyday experience: 19th century Bulgaria, at the time of the Serbo-Bulgarian War.
"Arms" is perhaps best described as a dark romantic comedy, centered on a love triangle between the wealthy Raina Petkoff (Francesca Finch Bochner '10), her fiance Sergius (David Mavricos '10), and the infuriating but very attractive Captain Bluntschli (Jacob Crumbine '07), a Swiss soldier fighting in the Serbian army. Things get even more complicated when Sergius and Raina's servant Louka (Victoria Toumanoff '09) begin a flirtation, in spite of Louka's engagement to another servant, Nicola (Casey Ley '07).
It's quite a tangled web these characters weave. Also adding to the chaos are Raina's meddlesome mother (Lily King '07) and doting father (Preston Copley '07). No matter how hard Raina and Sergius try to convince themselves -- and each other -- that they are a match made in heaven, their relationship remains comically superficial, and it quickly becomes clear that each is meant for someone else. Watching the characters put on pretense after ludicrous pretense in a variety of deliciously ironic situations is hilarious, but the play is hardly all fun and games. Shaw has plenty of interesting things to say about the nature of illusions and idealism, and the century-old play still resonates soundly.
If rehearsals are any indicator, the talented cast of "Arms and the Man" will bring Shaw's text to life with humor and poignancy.
