The actors are the best thing about Intiman Theatre's new production of "Heartbreak House." They shine. Although many of these seasoned thespians have worked together countless times on Seattle stages, the newcomers blend seamlessly into this talented ensemble. Directed by Jon Jory, the cast's superb performances are reason enough to see George Bernard Shaw's dark drawing-room comedy.
If you're a Shaw novice, be warned. His socially conscious creation unfolds in three acts, and his chatty crew never stops talking. But if you're a true lover of the theater and/or a Shaw aficionado, you'll celebrate his witty verbosity. You can examine every speech for its subtext and resonating philosophical insights. Or you can just sit back and savor the Shavian wit and zany characters.
Reputed to be Shaw's favorite of his own works, "Heartbreak House" debuted in 1920. He actually wrote it earlier but refused to let it be produced until World War I had ended. The play's title acts as a metaphor for cultured, leisured Europe before the war, while Shaw's larger-than-life characters supposedly represent the evils of the modern world.
The action unfolds as invited guests and interlopers assemble at the eccentric Sussex household of Captain Shotover and his daughter, Lady Hesione Hushabye. When genteel but poor Elle Dunn arrives at Heartbreak House for a weekend in the country, she sets off a romantic mêlée. Elle plans to marry the much older, boorish millionaire Boss Mangan for his money, though she's secretly in love with Marcus Darnley, who turns out to be Hesione's husband Hector. Then Hesione's married sister, Lady Ariadne Utterword, arrives home unexpectedly after 23 years without her diplomat husband but with his wimpy brother Randall. She wants to dally with Hector as well. So Hesione turns her attention to Elle's idealistic father Mazzini, the only man ever to resist her. Then Boss Mangan arrives and subsequently confesses his fascination for Hesione. And Elle transfers her affections to the Captain, who professes to be more interested in rum and the destruction of mankind.
In the midst of this dysfunctional folly, Shaw manages to unleash his rapier wit and his ideas about socialism, capitalism, love, sex, marriage, politics and feminism.
Michael Winters gives a wonderful performance as the Captain, an aging, rum-soaked curmudgeon who once sailed the high seas and sold his soul in Zanzibar. Now an inventor of sorts, he has nothing but contempt for people and continually rants and raves about creating an explosive device that will destroy the human race. But he admits he is not immune to feminine wiles. "When you find happiness where there are no women, send me the latitude and longitude."
Daughter Hesione amuses herself by flirting and flitting through life. A bohemian who lives in denial of her true feelings, she cavorts about, much like a cat that cleverly plays with several mice at the same time. Kate Goehring is absolutely brilliant in this role. The pseudo-sophisticate Hesione encourages her husband's dalliances as she leads other men around by the nose.
Alexandra Tavares beautifully captures the ingenuous spirit of Elle Dunn, who arrives at the manor house only to have her heart broken - not once but twice, a casualty of Shaw's genius. Her dreams and beliefs shattered, Elle turns to the Captain and he's powerless to resist.
As the dashing Hector Hush-abye, Stephen Pelinski has the look of the late Stewart Granger, a swashbuckling film actor of the 1950s. Pelinski, who just finished a star turn as Richard III at Intiman Theatre, is just as marvelous as Hesione's egotistical rogue of a husband. A likeable bounder and inveterate liar, Hector makes up adventures to woo women and impress men. And to enhance his tales, he often dresses as a Bedouin sheik.
Suzanne Bouchard delivers her usual divine turn as Hesione's prodigal sister. A self-proclaimed woman of the world, Lady Utterword is shamelessly narcissistic. If you always do and say the perfectly correct thing, she advises, you can do just what you like. So she traipses about the Empire with her diplomat husband, while his brother Randall follows her around like a well-trained puppy.
Under Jory's direction, Randall is not the rotter Shaw originally conceived. As R. Hamilton Wright plays him, the character becomes a middle-aged boy toy, totally at Ariadne's beck and call. And Wright and Pelinski have one of the funniest bits in the play as they grapple for her affection.
Once Laurence Ballard, as Mangan, the "Bonaparte of Industry," confesses his perfidy in ruining Elle's father, he's overcome with intermittent crying jags. Ballard, hilarious and pompous as weeping capitalist, whimpers at the drop of a hat, managing to be both ridiculous and satirical at the same time. And while David Pichette hits the perfect note as the idealistic and ineffectual Mazzini, Suzy Hunt makes the most of her very tiny role of Nurse Guinness.
Although the Captain's ship-shaped manor house offers a visual metaphor for England and the world, Christopher Akerlind's drab set and hodge-podge furnishings seem more alienating than inviting. But Deb Trout brightens the vista with her smashing couture gowns for Hesione and Ariadne. And Hector's desert togs just cry out for a camel as an accessory.
Shaw considered "Heartbreak House" his tribute to Chekhov and actually subtitled the play "A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes." But whereas Shaw believed that playwrights should use their art as an instrument for social reform, Chekhov didn't try to change the world. While Shaw wanted to create lively plays with serious ideas, Chekhov didn't care to tout ideas; he was more interested in the details of daily life that thwart men's grand ambitions. So while Shaw blows up a vicarage, Chekhov would have let it crumble.
As the bombs of impending war explode near Heartbreak House, Hesione frivolously declares it a delightful boon to her house party. Shaw's ship of fools can do nothing - nor do they care to. These self-absorbed characters aren't thinkers or artists, but people who pride themselves on being able to talk about the latest on dits and works of art. As Shaw's madcap menagerie proses on at length - Chekhov style - their petty deceptions and grand philosophies play out in pretentious prattle. But even as the verbal sparks fly in this artful blend of high comedy and foreboding, there is an undercurrent of desperation.
All part of Shaw's master plan as he hammers away at his audiences, challenging us to open our eyes and look truthfully at ourselves and the world.
The real heartbreak is a decaying society. And the great question is not who we are, he sagely observes, "but what we are." [[In-content Ad]]
