It is after 1962, in this alternate history play, and, multinational industry is forcing a merger between the British Empireand the USA. the underlying discussion is about the unity of the English-speaking world. ( )

Actors love Shaw because he writes lines that are fun and "punchy." His characters have character, interesting quirks, edges - they are fully human. Even a minor play like "The Apple Cart" - which brims with the politics of Great Britain in the 1920s - is saturated with Shavian wit. Surely, if Shaw were alive today we would be sharing his brilliant epigrams and enjoying his latest satirical take on the contemporary political scene. Actually, many of his observations (in "The Apple Cart") from 85 years ago are strikingly relevant today.

"Got help England if she had no Scots to think for her."

"It is not the most ignorant national crowd that will come out on top, but the best power station; for you can't do without power stations, and you can't run them on patriotic songs and hatred of the foreigner, and guff and bugaboo, though you can run nationalism on nothing else."

"All the talent and genius of the country is bought up by the flood of unearned money. On that poisoned wealth talent and genius live far more luxuriously in the service of the rich than we in the service of our country. Politics, once the center of attraction for ability, public spirit, and ambition, has now become the refuge of a few fanciers of public speaking and party intrigue who find all the other avenues of distinction closed to them either by their lack of practical ability, their comparative poverty and lack of education, or, let me hasten to add, their hatred of oppression and injustice, and their contempt for the chicaneries and false pretenses of commercialized professionalism." ( )

In dieser Komödie nimmt der irische Dramatiker das Wesen der konstitutionellen Monarchie aufs Korn. Das Schauspiel dreht sich um ein Ultimatum, dass die Regierung dem britischen König stellt, man will ihn zwingen, sich aus der Öffentlichkeit und den Medien herauszuhalten und Gesetze widerspruchslos gegenzuzeichnen. Dieser wiederrum droht, die gewählte Regierung mit populistischen Maßnahmen auszubremsen. In diesem Werk verpackt der überzeugte Demokrat Shaw auch bissige Demokratiekritik. Interessant zu diesem Thema ist auch das Vorwort des Autors zur Frage, weshalb er die von ihm propagierte Regierungsform derart kritisiert.

Trotz allem bleibt das Werk einiges schuldig, das Schauspiel plätschert eher höhepunktlos dahin. Letztlich verleitet die Komödie selbst selten zum Schmunzeln, die Kritik kaum zum Nachdenken... ( )

2