Arms and the Man

“I will not be a coward and a trifler. If I choose to love you, I dare marry you, in spite of all Bulgaria.”

Flawlessly weaving the beauty of light comedy against the seams of false idealism, Arms and the Man is one of George Bernard Shaw’s most acclaimed comedies that take place during the 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian war. The play revolves around the complications and accidental romance between Raina, a young Bulgarian woman and Captain Bluntschli, a mercenary Swiss soldier.

Being the first of his plays to be a public success, the play encapsulates soft undertones of suspense and satire, plunges into the depths of wit and humour, and derides the conventional notions on war, love, social class and morality.