Stage West To Present Arms and the Man 10/20

George Bernard Shaw's pointed and charming classic Arms and the Man will begin the 2011-2012 season for Fort Worth's Stage West on Thursday, October 20.

The soldier on the run, Captain Bluntschli, is a Swiss mercenary, fighting in the Serbian army. Both Raina's father and her fiancé are Majors in the opposing Bulgarian army. Awkward. And Bluntschli's very different from what Raina expects of a soldier, carrying chocolate with him instead of ammunition, and dismissing conventional notions of heroism in battle. But despite some feelings of scorn, Raina's sense of romantic adventure leads her to hide him from his pursuers, and she and her mother send him safely on his way when they've gone. Naturally she never expects to see him again. So it is a shock when he turns up again, six months later, as an invaluable post-war assistant to her father and Sergius. And that's when the fun really begins, as established romantic relationships get completely upended. Once again, Shaw uses his not inconsiderable wit to take on romantic, societal, and military ideals, and layers it all with charm and humor and some singularly interesting characters. The audience is the clear winner here.

George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin in 1856, to a failed grain merchant father and a professional singer who left her husband and moved to London when Shaw was fifteen. He remained in Dublin with his father, completing his schooling, and in 1876 he went to London, joining his sister and mother. He did not return to Ireland for nearly thirty years. He began his literary career by writing music and drama criticism, and novels, without much success. A man of many causes, Shaw supported abolition of private property and radical change in the voting system, was a defender of women's rights, and campaigned for the simplification of spelling and the reform of the English alphabet. In 1891, Shaw wrote his first play, Widower's Houses. For the next twelve years, he wrote close to a dozen plays, though he generally failed to persuade the managers of the London theatres to produce them. Then in 1904, Harley Granville Barker took over the management of the Court Theatre on Sloane Square, and over the next three seasons, Barker produced ten plays by Shaw. For the next ten years, all but one of Shaw's plays (Pygmalion) was produced either by Barker or by Barker's friends and colleagues. In 1898 Shaw married Charlotte Payne-Townshend, and he remained with her until her death, although he was occasionally linked with other women, notably the actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell. In 1925 Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature; he accepted the honor but refused the money. He wrote over 50 plays, continuing to write into his 90s, and died at Ayot St. Lawrence, Hertfordshire, on November 2, 1950, from complications following a fall from a ladder.

Arms and the Man will be directed by Jim Covault, and will feature some faces familiar to Stage West audiences, as well as some exciting newcomers. Appearing as Bluntschli will be Mark Shum, just seen in Stage West's Jeeves in the Morning. Cassie Bann, recently seen in One-Thirty Productions' The Madness of Lady Bright, will play Raina. Emily Scott Banks, who played George Eliot in A Most Dangerous Woman at Echo Theatre, will play Raina's mother Catherine, with Stage West founder Jerry Russell as her father Major Petkoff. Dwight Greene, last seen at Stage West in Jeeves in the Morning, will play family servant Nicola. Samuel West Swanson, a recent graduate of the University of Arkansas whose credits include Valentine in Arcadia, will appear as fiancé Sergius. The flirtatious Louka will be played by Morgan McClure, just seen as Novel Woman in Echo Theatre's A Most Dangerous Woman. And Brandon Simmons, whose credits include Jay in Lost in Yonkers at Garland Civic Theatre, will play a young officer.
The set will be designed by Jim Covault. Period costume design will be again be handled by Michael Robinson and Dallas Costume Shoppe, who provided costumes for our production of Jeeves in the Morning and Talking Pictures. Michael O'Brien will design the lighting, with set décor and props by Lynn Lovett.

Arms and the Man will preview Thursday, October 20 at 7:30 and Friday, October 21 at 8:00, and will run through Sunday, November 27 (no performance on Thanksgiving). Performance times will be Thursday evenings at 7:30, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00, with Sunday matinees at 3:00. The opening night reception will be Saturday, October 22. Ticket prices range from $26 to $30, with discounts for students and seniors. Preview tickets are priced at only $15. Pay What You Can performances will be Sunday, October 23 and Thursday, October 27. Food service is available 90 minutes prior to performances (reservations are necessary), and all Friday nights after October 21 will feature the $35 Prix Fixe Special. Reservations and information are available through the Box Office (817-784-9378), or on the website, www.stagewest.org.

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