“THE APPLE CART.”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20793, 12 August 1929, Page 10

“THE APPLE CART.”

BERNARD SHAW’S NEW PLAY. It is significant of Bernard Shaw’s international fame that his latest play should receive its first performance in Warsaw. Critics form all parts of Europe flocked to the Polish Theatre to hear the play in translation a few months before the English production,,which will take place at Malvern in August. Mr Shaw has turned his wit upon modern political systems (says the London correspondent of the Melbourne Argus). His own pet system, Socialism, suffers at least as severely as Conservatism and Liberalism in this study of England in the year 1960. “The Apple Cart ’’ .carries the imagination forward a generation, to a “ime when a certain King Magnus is ruling in Britain. Magnus comes of Royal stock, but, in essentials, he is an embodiment ‘of Bernard Shaw. All the weaknesses of Ms Ministers are plain to him; his wit plays about and among them, hampering every unworthy ambition, and there are many. Bill Boanerges has scored great success So a trade onion leader, and Mr Shaw pictures him as seeking the office of first president of a British republic. Boanerges upholds the rights of “ the strong leader,” and considers democracy out of date. But King Magnus stands in his way_ and forbids the satisfaction of Ms ambition. When the curtain rises a constititional crisis is in tl making, and Magnus has declared that his veto alone remains to defend the people against a corrupt legislature. Proteus, the Prime Minister, therefore, comes to the palace with an ultimatum. The King must promise to make no more speeches. He must not even deliver speeches written for him by his own Cabinet, inasmuch as he,has developed an uncanny habit of unrolling the manuscript and winking. If the King refuses, to obey, there will be an appeal to the country, and the monarchy will pass from England. The ultimatum furnishes King Magnus with an opportunity for a speech upon the monarchic principle. By this time Hr Shaw has given his audience some idea of the world changes which have taken place in 1962. The capital of France has been moved to Tingad, the Roman ruin in North Africa, Paris is reserved for American tourists. Europe, from the Urals to the North Sea, is divided into small Soviet republics. Britain, the last home of kings, has a monopoly of the luxury trade of the world, and is living largely upon the proceeds of her investments abroad. The second act of “Th Apple Cart” discards the study of constitutional practice for a personal episode in the life of King Magnus. He has a trusty wife, by name Jemima; but he also has a platonic mistress, Orinthia, and it is in her boudoir that the story continues. Orinthia wishes the King to divorce Jemima and place her upon the throne, a proposal which by no means attracts Bang Magnus. " The act ends in a rough and tumble fight: between the King and Orinthia, who tries to prevent Magnus from having tea with Queen Jemima. The entrance of a secretary allows the King to escape. The third act of “The Apple Cart” takes place in her Majesty’s tearoom. In this act Mr Shaw abandons dramatic action, and relies upon words once more. It seems that the United States has a plan for crushing Britain out of existence, by joining the British Commonwealth of Nations'. Business men in Europe have invested so heavily >u American enterprises that two thousand million dollars of American money cross the Atlantic yearly to balance fhr AngloAmerican account. Union with such a Power is likely to become a stranglehold, apd King Magnus is full of fear. He decides to abdicate, to the distress of his Ministers, male and female. This is “the apple cart” of the title. “You can’t," cries the Foreign Secretary, “ upset the apple cart like this.” “ Oh, yes, I can,” says the King, “My boy, Robert, Prince of Wales, will make an admirable constitutional monarch.” But what of Magnus’s own future? As the Ministers bid him farewell he divulges his secret. Divested of every title, he will be free to enter politics. He proposes to stand for the Royal borough of Windsor. He will form a party and provide his son with a body of Commoners upon whom the Crown can rely. The puppet has become the master. The Prime Minister realises his error Snatching the Cabinet’s ultimatum from the King, he tears it up and goes out in a rage. Magnus and Queen Jemima are left alone, united once more, while the King enjoys the comforting reflection that the British monarchy stands for the abiding tradition, in contra-distinction to the flux arising from rule by the democratic mob.