''Androcles and the Lion'' is a 1912

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

written by

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

. The play is Shaw's retelling of the tale of

Androcles Androcles ( el, Ἀνδροκλῆς, alternatively spelled Androclus in Latin), is the main character of a common folktale about a man befriending a lion. The tale is included in the Aarne–Thompson classification system as type 156. The ...

, a slave who is saved by the requiting mercy of a lion. In the play, Shaw portrays Androcles to be one of the many Christians being led to the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world to ...

for torture. Characters in the play exemplify several themes and takes on both modern and supposed

early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...

, including the cultural clash between Jesus' teachings and traditional Roman values.

Characters

*Androcles (main character) *The Lion *Magaera *Centurion *Captain *Lavinia *Lentulus *Metellus *Spintho *Ferrovius *Ox-Driver *Call Boy *The Editor *Menagerie Keeper *Caesar *Secutor *Retiariu

Plot

, a fugitive Christian tailor, accompanied by his nagging wife, is on the run from his Roman persecutors. While hiding in the forest he comes upon a wild lion who approaches him with a wounded paw. His wife runs off. Androcles sees that the cause of the animal's distress is a large thorn embedded in its paw, which he draws out while soothing the lion in baby language. Androcles is captured and is sent to the

to be executed with other Christians in gladiatorial combat. They are joined by a new Christian convert called Ferrovius, who struggles to reconcile his Christian principles with his violent inclinations. The Roman captain guarding them is attracted to the genteel convert Lavinia. Eventually the Christians are sent into the arena, but Ferrovius kills all the gladiators before they can harm any Christians. He is offered a job in the

Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort fo ...

, which he takes. The Christians are to be released, but the crowd demands blood. To satisfy them, Androcles offers himself to be savaged by lions. But the lion that is supposed to kill him turns out to be the one that Androcles saved, and the two dance around the arena to the delight of the crowd. The emperor comes into the arena to get a closer look, and the lion attacks him. Androcles calls him off and the emperor is saved. He then declares an end to the

persecution of Christians The persecution of Christians can be historically traced from the first century of the Christian era to the present day. Christian missionaries and converts to Christianity have both been targeted for persecution, sometimes to the point of b ...

. Androcles and his new 'pet' depart together. File:Androcles-and-the-Lion-Arthur-Wilson.jpg,

Dooley Wilson Arthur "Dooley" Wilson (April 3, 1886 – May 30, 1953) was an American actor, singer and musician who is best remembered for his portrayal of Sam in the 1942 film ''Casablanca (film), Casablanca''. In that romantic drama, he performs its theme ...

as Androcles in the 1938

Federal Theatre Project The Federal Theatre Project (FTP; 1935–1939) was a theatre program established during the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depression as part of the New Deal to fund live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United ...

production File:Androcles-and-the-Lion-Daniel-Haynes-2.jpg, Daniel L. Haynes as Ferrovius, lighting design by

Abe Feder Abraham Hyman Feder (July 27, 1908, Milwaukee, Wisconsin – April 24, 1997, Manhattan, New York) was an American lighting designer. He is regarded as the creator of lighting design for the theatre and was the country's leading consultant in archi ...

File:Androcles-and-the-Lion-Daniel-Haynes.jpg, Daniel L. Haynes as Ferrovius File:Androcles-and-the-Lion-15.jpg, Scene from the 1938

production File:Androcles-Lion-Wilson-Bates.jpg, Dooley Wilson (Androcles) and Add Bates (Lion)

Preface

The short play is often printed with a

preface __NOTOC__ A preface () or proem () is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a '' foreword'' and precedes an author's preface. The preface often closes ...

that includes a long examination of the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

s by Shaw, in which Shaw analyzes the Bible and proclaims his findings. In summary, Shaw states that

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

was a benevolent genius (in areas ranging from moral to social to economic) who eventually bought into popular ideas of his divinity and impending martyrdom. Shaw goes on to state that the teachings of Jesus were lost with his

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

, and that the Christian churches that followed are instead based on the teachings and philosophies of

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

(see

Pauline Christianity Pauline Christianity or Pauline theology (also Paulism or Paulanity), otherwise referred to as Gentile Christianity, is the theology and form of Christianity which developed from the beliefs and doctrines espoused by the Hellenistic-Jewish Ap ...

) or

Barabbas Barabbas (; ) was, according to the New Testament, a prisoner who was chosen over Jesus by the crowd in Jerusalem to be pardoned and released by Roman governor Pontius Pilate at the Passover feast. Biblical account According to all four canoni ...

. The preface is longer than the play.

Significance

The play was written at a time when the Christian Church was an important influence on society and there was strong pressure on non-believers in public life. The reversal of roles in the play possibly served to evoke empathy from his targeted audience. The characters also represent different "types" of Christian believers. The journey and outcome of each of the characters make it clear which believers Shaw sympathizes with the most, especially with Lavinia. One of the most famous passages of the play is Lavinia's metaphor of capturing a mouse to converting from Christianity to believing in the

Roman gods The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts (see ''interpretatio graeca''), integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin litera ...

, where Lavinia shows that the most important part of religion is earnestness and a lack of

hypocrisy Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it is the ...

. Hypocrisy was a characteristic in the Church that Shaw condemned. The play has themes of

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

dom and persecution which are portrayed through the vehicle of

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

. Another point in the play is his position against

vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...

, which connected to his philosophy in being a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

. In the play, Shaw uses

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...

, verbal wit and

physical comedy Physical comedy is a form of comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any ...

to portray his themes. In compliance with a bequest in Shaw's will, ''Androcles and the Lion'' was the first book printed in his

Shavian alphabet The Shavian alphabet (; also known as the Shaw alphabet) is an alphabet conceived as a way to provide simple, phonemic orthography for the English language to replace the difficulties of conventional spelling using the Latin alphabet. It wa ...

when it was released in that orthography by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Androcles and the Lion'', was made of the play in 1952, produced by

Gabriel Pascal Gabriel Pascal (born Gábor Lehel; 4 June 1894 – 6 July 1954) was a Hungarian film producer and director whose best-known films were made in the United Kingdom. Pascal was the first film producer to successfully bring the plays of Georg ...

. There was a TV version in 1967 with

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

. A later film version, from 1984, was produced by Ronald Smedley. A radio version was recorded by BBC Radio in 1967 and was most recently repeated on

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the p ...

on 16 August 2021, Leslie French playing Androcles. During the 2017 Season with Tim Carrol as artistic director, the Shaw Festival produced a radically different interpretation with an unprecedented amount of audience participation. The Lion is/was played by an audience member, while a member of the cast chosen before production acted as an MC that would read the directions for the Lion to follow. Before the play starts, the cast spends time talking and interacting with the audience at the Courtroom Theatre, and some cast members hand out coloured

juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...

balls, to be used to pick the Lion from the audience. An audience member is called upon at the start of the play to choose a colour (red, green, blue or yellow), and the person holding that colour ball is then chosen as the lion. During the 2nd act (the march to Rome) the remaining balls could be thrown down onto the "stage" where each ball would call out a different response. For instance, if the yellow ball was the Lion, the green ball might pull a story, while the blue or red ball would call for what a cast member is thinking of at that particular time. During intermission the coloured balls would be handed out again, and then once more be able to be thrown down on the "stage" and prompt the actors for other tidbits of information. One colour would be for a summary of the epilogue, another for something an actor has gleaned from the massive prologue, that sort of thing.

References

External links