While I have seen the Burt Lancaster movie version, this is my first time reading this. While I liked the full cast audiobook, it didn't include the substantial descriptions of settings and characters that the written (in my case, Kindle) version has. Most of these would be covered in a performance but are not all clear in an audio-only version so I am glad that I combined reading this in my Kindle omnibus of Shaw's plays with the audio recording.

As for the play itself, I think it is one of Shaw's finest. It has his dry sense of humor coupled with a sense of social conscience but by being in a historical setting, some of Shaw's edge is mellowed yet deepened. I have found some of his work too strident but that is not the case here. In addition, the few pages of notes at the end of the play in my edition about the history of General Burgoyne & relating it to the then current Boer War was fascinating! ( )

meh ( )

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