ENGLISH THEATRE OF 19th
AND 20th CENTURIES GROUP A
SURNAME: Giarratana NAME: Melania
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
ANNAJANSKA, THE BOLSHEVIK
EMPRESS
First performed at the Coliseum Theatre,
21st January 1918, London, UK
The cast of this play is made up of three main characters: the General Stramfest, the Lieutenant Schneidekind
and Annajanska, the Grand Duchess.
The General Stramfest is one of the most
faithful soldiers of the Panjadrum of Beotia’ s Army; he is desperate because of the
political situation of his country, which is being upset by the Bolshevik
Revolution. He has joined the revolution in order of saving his life, but he is
still faithful to the ideas of the previous government as his family did for
centuries.
Lieutenant Schneidekind is younger than the
General is and believes in the Revolution.
Annajanska is the Punjadrum’s daughter, in spite
of this, she has joined the Revolution and wants to do her bit in that.
The story develops in Beotia, in the
General’s office in a military station. Stramfest
and Schneidekind are informed about the fact that Annajanska, the Grand Duchess, has joined the Revolution
and has eloped with a young officer. Later she is arrested and taken to the
General’s office by two poor soldiers: Annajanska
is a strong and courageous woman and makes it hard for the soldiers to keep
her; she believes in what she is doing at the point that she would be able to
bite and fight until her death for her ideas. She demands the General to call
her “comrade” and she tells the General that she wants to save the
Revolution and her Country by becoming a soldier and the supreme Guide of the
people. The General is incapable to refuse obeying Annajanska’s
orders even if he does not agree with her ideas, because he is too fond of her
family and of the Government that they represented.
The language used is formal and often made up of military jargon. The
Grand Duchess speaks in a solemn way and the General speaks as if he was the
lowest of Annajanska subjects. The rhythm of the
discourse is mainly lively in spite of the General’s long talks.
In my opinion, Annajanska represents
“the Revolution inside the Revolution” because at the time of the
Bolshevik Revolution, it was impossible for a woman to be a soldier or a
politician. A woman could be an Empress, a Queen or a Princess, but never could
be strong, valorous, brave and irreverent as Annajanska
was. Besides, nobody could accept that a woman would have been capable to guide
a Revolution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
G.B. Shaw “Annajanska,
the Bolshevik Empress”
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Academic year 2005/2006
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés
López
© Melania Giarratana
megia@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de Valčncia
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