Word: heartbreaking
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...citing "irreconcilable differences," Soraya last week sadly filed for a legal separation from Khashoggi, whose possessions include five jets and a $2 million Manhattan duplex complete with swimming pool. Never mind Lebanon; she filed in California, where community property laws could give her $2 billion plus $540 million for heartbreak...
...whose single-minded business interests threaten to overthrow the existing social order. John instead portrays the kind of character who was kicked around during kindergarten and is only now getting his revenge on humanity. His frenzied, whining manner accords--often hysterically--the Mangan who cannot keep pace with Heartbreak House's ever-changing pretensions. But because his malice barely emerges, John's performance can perhaps best be defined as comic basrelief. Similarly, Peter Ginna is almost endearing as the burglar who not only convinces his captors to release him but persuades them to take up a collection...
...ultimate source of chaos, confusing Mazzini Dunn for Billy Dunn, ignoring the arrival of his long-lost daughter Lady Ariadne Utterword and spewing forth random comments as he wanders aimlessly on and off the stage, the Captain is the only one who remains oblivious to the frenzy of Heartbreak House: "I've stood on the bridge for 18 hours in a typhoon," he declares. "Life here is stormier; but I can stand...
...absence of such clear distinctions in other aspects of Heartbreak House suggests why the play has been subjected to numerous interpretations since its first performance in 1920. Shaw's final act is especially ambiguous and leaves the audience pondering whether the playwright entertained hopes for the establishment of a new social order or whether, like Chekhov, he foresaw only a grim continuation of existing institutions...
...TURNING Heartbreak House's humor into near-farce, however, the Dunster House production diverts the audience's attention from Shaw's serious political considerations. Nuances are lost, and with them goes much of what distinguishes Heartbreak House as fine drama. Nevertheless, this production remains worthwhile and enjoyable for its humor, characterization and evocation of a social climate not too far removed from...