The Apple Cart: A Political Extravaganza is a 1928 play by George Bernard Shaw. It is a satiricalcomedy about several political philosophies which are expounded by the characters, often in lengthy monologues. The plot follows the fictional English King Magnus as he spars with, and ultimately outwits, Prime Minister Proteus and his cabinet, who seek to strip the monarchy of its remaining political influence. Magnus opposes the corporation "Breakages, Limited", which controls politicians and impedes technical progress.
...a comedy in which a King defeats an attempt by his popularly elected Prime Minister to deprive him of the right to influence public opinion through the press and the platform: in short, to reduce him to a cipher. The King's reply is that rather than be a cipher he will abandon his throne and take his obviously very rosy chance of becoming a popularly elected Prime Minister himself.[1]
The play was completed in December 1928 and first performed in Warsaw (in Polish) the following June. Its English première was at the first Malvern Drama Festival in August 1929.[2]
Shaw based King Magnus largely on himself. He modelled the enigmatic and pivotal character Orinthia, the King's mistress, on Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the actress who had created the role of Eliza Doolittle in Shaw's Pygmalion.[3] The "Powermistress-General" is said by the biographers of Beatrice Webb to be modelled on Susan Lawrence, an old colleague of Shaw from the Fabian Society.
Characters
Sempronius The King's Private Secretary
Pamphilius The King's Private Secretary
Billy Boanerges President of the Board of Trade
King Magnus
Orinthia King's Mistress
Alice Princess Royal
Joe Proteus Prime Minister
Pliny Chancellor of the Exchequer
Nicobar Foreign Secretary
Crassus Colonial Secretary
Balbus Home Secretary
Amanda Postelthwaite Postmistress General
Lysistrata Powermistress General
Vanhattan American Ambassador
Queen Jemima
Productions
There was a Coronation Year Production in 1953. It went on tour and starred Noël Coward as Magnus and Margaret Leighton as Orinthia. It was particularly memorable for Coward's performance. He could stand absolutely still and absolutely silent and still keep every eye in the audience on him.
2012 production in Slezské divadlo, Opava, the Czech Republic. Translated by Alžběta Matoušková. Directed by Roman Groszman. The play premiered on 11 November 2012 with Michal Stalmach (King Magnus), Drahomír Ožana (Joe Proteus), Pavel Rohan (Billy Boanerges), Kostas Zerdaloglu (Balbus), Martin Táborský (Plinius), Emanuel Křenek (Nicobar), Ivana Lebedová (Lysistrata), Hana Vaňková (Amanda Postelthwaite), Sabina Muchová (Queen Jemima), Šárka Vykydalová or Tereza Starostková (Orinthia), Jakub Stránský (Pamphilius), Daniel Volný (Sempronius), Ludmila Štědrá (Vanhattan), Tereza Diatilová or Anežka Bindrová (Alice).
George Bernard Shaw, known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
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Breakages, Limited is a fictional corporation that figures in George Bernard Shaw's 1928 play The Apple Cart. It has acquired a monopoly of all repair trades. "Breakages" is the focus of a critique of capitalism, shown as exerting undue political influence while hampering beneficial technological progress to protect its own interests.
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