[sun surfer]

Thanks for the info fantasyfan; if you want me to add any of those links to the first post just post the links, but as it is you've given plenty enough info on them for anyone who wants to find them.

I've actually already finished, heh. Interesting little read and I really like the Bulgarian setting. I'm still letting it sink in, but I think I found it somewhere between OK to good. I like the ideas it brings up, especially

Spoiler:

of a rational soldier being so out of place and looked down on.

What I didn't like so much was

Spoiler:

the convention of all the couples ending up together at the end, at the expense of Nicola. There of course is possible discussion here, on "the soul of the servant" among other things, and Shaw is sympathetic to and gives much intelligence to Nicola, and yet he is still the one to get the brunt of the misunderstandings joke and still ends up the poorest (since Louka will now be rich) and alone, even though his relative success in the future is still implied. I suppose perhaps Shaw did it on purpose as a critique but I think if so it might go over many play-goers' heads and to them Nicola may be seen as a tertiary, unimportant character that was just there to be laughed at for a scene. And I also wonder why his head was shaved Japanese style? Was that a normal Bulgarian custom because it seems very unusual?

I noticed the long stage directions and wondered at them, but thought that perhaps they were more normal for plays of the period; thanks for clearing that up fantasyfan.

I do like that the title comes from the Aeneid, which I've read as well in the past month.

After finishing I did read up on it a bit, and found this one tidbit on wikipedia about Shaw that I found very amusing:

The play was one of Shaw's first commercial successes. He was called onto stage after the curtain, where he received enthusiastic applause. However, amidst the cheers, one audience member booed. Shaw replied, in characteristic fashion, "My dear fellow, I quite agree with you, but what are we two against so many?"

By the way, I must add one more thing after previewing this post that right cracked me up. The first spoiler wasn't working and I couldn't figure out the problem, until I noticed that instead of [/spoiler] at the end I had used [/soldier].