Almost all of G. B. Shaw''s plays are comedies--this is an excellent example of Shaw at his comedic genius''s best.
A romantic young girl is caught in a bedroom in Bulgaria (her native land) by a desperate Swiss/Serbian officer fleeing for his life--having just been defeated by a
cavalry charge led by her fiance'' (who won the battle--and eventually the
war--solely because the Serbian machine gunners
had been sent the wrong ammunition; and the ensuing delay permitted the said Sergius Saranoff to lead the cavalry charge over the Serbian gun emplacement and thus win the day).
And the fun begins.
She hides the enemy soldier and eventually she and her mother send him on his way (with her father''s coat--the father a general in the Bulgarian Army). When the fugitive later returns--after the truce that ends the war--to return her father''s coat, the women''s kind deception begins to unravel, along with the girl''s engagement to the hopelessly heroic and hopelessly unrealistic young Bulgarian officer, who won the war by accident in what should have been far more like THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE than it turned out to be in fact. Her fiance'' was canned (i.e. fired) by his more realistic and practical senior officers, lest he do somthing similar again, with less successful or disastrous results. T
The comic attempts to conceal the returning soldier''s identity and presence, and how and where they happened to meet each other, and the resultant mixups, confusion, and eventual revelations and denouement make this one of the most delightful and amusing comedies Shaw (or anyone else) has ever written. The surprising end (though predictable once one has seen it from the beginning--a very difficult feat for a writer to pull off), makes the play well worth reading in itself--as do Shaw''s ever-outrageous, but ever-practical, opinions, candy-coated with light satire. A really fun read.
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