The Apple Cart: A Political Extravaganza is a 1929 play by George Bernard Shaw. Though it offers some laughs, the play is primarily a reflection on a number of political philosophies and characters who frequently deliver lengthy speeches defending their views. It follows the fictional King Magnus and his mistress Orinthia as they match wits with a Prime Minister, Proteus, who seeks to strip the monarchy of its remaining political powers. As Shaw puts it succinctly in the Preface it is "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." Characters
- Sempronius Civil Servant
- Pamphilius Civil Servant
- Boanerges President of the Board of Trade
- King Magnus
- Orinthia King's Mistress
- Alice Princess Royal
- Proteus Prime Minister
- Pliny Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Nicobar Foreign Secretary
- Crassus Colonial Secretary
- Balbus Home Secretary
- Amanda Postmistress General
- Lysistrata Powermistress General
- Vanhattan American Ambassador
- The Queen
- Entire text of the play, including a lengthy Preface and articles relating to the play can be found at http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300431h.html
The Plays of George Bernard Shaw | |
|---|---|
| Passion Play • Un Petit Drame • Widowers' Houses • The Philanderer • Mrs. Warren's Profession • Arms and the Man • Candida • The Man of Destiny • You Never Can Tell • The Devil's Disciple • The Gadfly • Caesar and Cleopatra • Captain Brassbound's Conversion • The Admirable Bashville • Man and Superman • Don Juan in Hell • John Bull's Other Island • How He Lied to Her Husband • Major Barbara • Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction • The Doctor's Dilemma • The Interlude at the Playhouse • Getting Married • The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet • Press Cuttings • Fascinating Foundling • The Glimpse of Reality • Misalliance • The Dark Lady of the Sonnets • Fanny's First Play • Androcles and the Lion • Overruled • Beauty's Duty • Pygmalion • Great Catherine • The Music Cure • O'Flaherty V.C. • The Inca of Perusalem • Augustus Does His Bit • Macbeth Skit • Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress • Heartbreak House • Back to Methuselah • A Glimpse of the Domesticity of Franklin Barnabas • Jitta's Atonement • Saint Joan • The Apple Cart • Too True to Be Good • How These Doctors Love One Another! • Village Wooing • On the Rocks • The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles • The Six of Calais • The Millionairess • Arthur and the Acetone • Cymbeline Refinished • Geneva • In Good King Charles' Golden Days • The British Party System • Buoyant Billions • Farfetched Fables • Shakes versus Shav • Why She Would Not |  |
