George Bernard Shaw’s anti-romantic comedy about a pragmatic soldier who punctures the idealistic illusions of a Bulgarian family.
In the midst of the Serbo-Bulgarian War, the idealistic Raina Petkoff (Alice Krige) finds her romantic notions of heroism challenged when a pragmatic Swiss mercenary, Captain Bluntschli (Richard Briers), takes refuge in her bedroom. Bluntschli, a professional soldier who famously carries chocolate instead of ammunition, offers a cynical but truthful perspective on the realities of combat. His worldview directly contradicts that of Raina’s fiancé, the dashing but posturing Major Sergius Saranoff (Peter Egan). When Bluntschli returns after the war to return a borrowed coat, his presence throws the pretentious Petkoff household, including Raina’s parents (Richard Pearson and Pat Heywood), into chaos, forcing a confrontation between romantic ideals and practical reality.
George Bernard Shaw’s 1894 “unpleasant play” is presented here as a direct, text-focused drawing-room comedy. The production makes no attempt to open out the action, instead relying on the power of Shaw’s intellectual fireworks and the skill of its cast. The central collision is between romantic illusion and practical reality, a conflict personified by its two male leads. While Peter Egan captures the posturing vanity of the traditional hero Sergius, the production belongs to Richard Briers as the sensible, chocolate-carrying Captain Bluntschli. Briers’ performance is a masterclass in pragmatic understatement, puncturing the social and military pretensions of the Petkoff family with every line. By treating war not as a glorious adventure but as a professional trade, the play remains a potent satire on the absurdities of heroism.
Broadcast: Channel 4 – Argent Television, 1 Episode, 16 January 1983
Written by: George Bernard Shaw
Director: Philip Casson
Producers: Michael Freeman, Peter Freeman
Main Cast: Richard Briers (Captain Bluntschli), Alice Krige (Raina Petkoff), Peter Egan (Major Sergius Saranoff), Richard Pearson (Major Petkoff), Pat Heywood (Catherine Petkoff), Anna Nygh (Louka), Anthony Pedley (Nicola)
