When Contextual Events Become Central to Fiction

Theatre, Europe in Chaos, and the Finnish Winter War

Abstract

When the Finnish Winter War erupted at the end of November 1939, it caused consternation beyond the borders of Finland; after all, mighty U.S.S.R had just attacked a small independent neighbouring country, justifying the aggression with securing its own domestic interests. I will be examining two contemporary Winter War plays and their genesis: Hagar Olsson’s Lumisota (Snowball War, 1939) depicts the threat of a fictitious war and the conflicting reactions to that threat – reactions that were put to the test during rehearsals when the prospect of war became imminent, mirroring events in the play. On the other hand, American Robert E. Sherwood set his play There Shall be No Night (1940) during the Finnish Winter War as it was being waged. The former play received a Finnish performance ban right before the Soviet attack as the portents of war reached fever pitch, and the latter initially received accolades and achieved success, but performances of the play were eventually halted when events in the European theatre of war took another turn, impacting US foreign policy.
The plays under analysis keenly exemplify drama’s firm connection with its surrounding realities. The pacificism of the playwrights themselves had to stand aside, or take on new forms, when a real war with all its political decision-making emerged from behind a fictitious story.