Arms and the Man

Paul Miller’s quietly brilliant tenure running the Orange Tree Theatre has involved a careful balancing act between staging the sort of slightly chintzy older works beloved by the theatre’s traditional audience, and putting on bold, agenda-setting new writing that’s revitalised the theatre’s hitherto moribund image. It’s always been clear that Miller’s heart lies with the classics, specifically his beloved Bernard Shaw. He’s staged many of the great polymath’s rarer pieces during his time in Richmond, and as a little treat to himself he finishes his tenure off by helming a revival of one of Shaw’s greatest hits. First performed in 1894, ‘Arms and the Man’ is a ‘moral comedy’ about the futility of war, following an idealistic young woman whose beliefs are shaken when she learns more about the true nature of conflict.