Word: ferrovius
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Dates: during 1938-1938
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...blackfaced Caesar tries his best, now & then, to seem degenerate and willful. The strong man, Ferrovius, loudly debates whether to fight back at his oppressors or practice Christian nonresistance. The lion remembers to growl. The martyrs try to look downtrodden. But to no avail. Androcles fails to transmit a serious social message, for the good reason that it is not a serious play. Shaw's Androcles is a whimsical fellow. His Caesar is a playboy. His frisking lion is fed more gags than Christians. His martyrs are as exhilarated as though they were going to see a show rather...
...high Shavian wit is Androcles entertaining, but for low Shavian tom-foolery-particularly near the end when the play bursts its buttons, when Ferrovius licks all the gladiators in sight, when Androcles waltzes with the lion, when Caesar is chased by it, claims the credit for taming it, orders everybody to turn Christian. Such high jinks do not make one wonder what Shaw "means" by it all; they make one wonder whether he may not have had a hand in Hellzapoppin...