Word: dragons
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POLITICAL statements in the form of social realism sometimes tend toward the heavy-handed; once made, the author's point is frequently pounded into the audience until the art form loses any claim to verisimilitude. In an effort to avoid this trap--and Stalin's censors, since The Dragon was written in the Soviet Union in 1943--Yevgeny Schwarz has turned to allegory, drawing on the Russian folk tradition to disguise a commentary on his country. Dragons, heroes, talking animals and flying carpets people his work, giving his play an outward simplicity that underlines his final statement...
Schwarz proffers a foreshortened view of Soviet history. Lancelot, professional savior, arrives in a town that has been under the rule of a dragon for the past 400 years, a dragon that demands yearly tribute in the shape of a maiden. Undaunted by the townspeople's desire for peace and quiet ("So long as he's here," one says, no other dragon would dare to touch us"), Lancelot challenges and kills the dragon. But Lancelot is severely wounded in the fight, and while he leaves the town for a year to heal his injuries the opportunistic mayor...
Fortunately Schwarz has camouflaged his theme behind humor and fantasy, so The Dragon remains lighthearted throughout. He pokes fun at the apathetic townsfolk who are unwilling to trade their dragon-induced peace for freedom, but it is a gentle sarcasm, tinged with an acceptance of human nature. As the mild-mannered gardener, who has trained his snapdragons to eulogize the successive dictators, says, "You know, when all is said and done, people need very careful treatment...
...students of Slavic 197, "Survey of Russian Drama," who did much of the work for this production of The Dragon, have emphasized the play's fairy-tale qualities. The backdrop shines a luminescent blue, with hints of a leafy forest in the foreground and a decidedly Russian castle, topped with domes, in the back. The sets are appropriately simple: a cottage hearth, a wooden throne, a table set for a peasant feast. The costumes fit the set, with most of the characters dressed in traditional Russian style, and the dragon, in human form, wearing a military costume...
...transformations into wondrous and powerful creatures, i.e., adults. Of course the tears and truths of the human condition reside within these stories. But there are many truths. At the beginning of this century, Chesterton praised fairy tales because they provided the child a "St. George to kill the dragon." For Poet W.H. Auden, a reading of the Grimm Brothers could serve to "restore to parents the right and the duty to educate their children." Between these two terminals there are millions of valid interpretations - as many as there are readers and critics. Pace Bettelheim, enchantment has more uses today than...