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About Arms and the Man
In the midst of a bloody central European war, a chance moonlit encounter throws together an idealistic young woman and a Swiss mercenary with an unexpectedly realistic attitude to soldiering. Raina’s youthful love for Sergius, the swashbuckling fighting hero of the Bulgarian army, is challenged when she learns more of the realities of war. Bluntschli’s coolly ironic good sense starts to seem more like the future. When Louka, the servant of the family with a spirit and ambition all of her own, sets her sights on Sergius, the stage is set for an epic moral battle. Shaw’s delightful romantic comedy was one of his first commercial successes and remains enduringly relevant. Paul Miller directs in his final production as Artistic Director of the Orange Tree. It follows his lauded rediscoveries of Shaw’s other early plays Overruled, How He Lied to Her Husband, Candida, Misalliance, The Philanderer, and Widowers’ Houses.