Shaw gives us a general critique of the idealization of nationalism, the beauty of battle and the concept of war heroes. The title of Arms and the Man comes from the first line of Virgil’s Aeneid: “Arma virumque cano” or “Of arms and the man I sing.” Shaw sets his story against the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885, a fourteen-day war that resulted in the recognition of the Unification of Bulgaria, including the province of Eastern Rumelia. In his own words, “Life does not cease to be funny when people die, any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.” Bertolt Brecht observed that Shaw “employs an unusual weapon – that of humor.” Shaw’s great wit succeeds in making his plays highly enjoyable even when they are illuminating uncomfortable truths. At the age of 36, Shaw became determined to write plays that would create a forum for the exploration of politics and social morality. He adored Ibsen and Wagner, but generally held contempt for the sentimental artificiality of Victorian drama. Shaw is the author of over sixty plays, the recipient of an Academy Award for his work on the film Pygmalion, and the winner of the 1925 Nobel Peace Prize for Literature honoring his work which is, “marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty.” His is one of the most revered voices of the last century.īorn in Ireland in 1856 to a grain merchant and a professional singer, Shaw moved to London as a young adult and began writing novels before becoming a self-supported critic of drama and music. It is with delight that Constellation Theatre Company first tackles the work of master playwright George Bernard Shaw.
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