Word: shaw
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...Hintsa, Tim Nix (Managers); Leigh-Ann Arentsen, Sam Atlee, Paulette Banko, Betty Barth, Teresa Belmonte, Evan Blank, Alison Collins, Sue Considine, Jill Goldring, Peter Granath, Nini Gussenhoven, Richard Hine, Jennie Hunnewell, Joe Johnson, Shira Kalish, Anna Mulhern, Armand Punzalan, Jenny Reed, Paton Roth, Trish Ryan-Sacks, Cynthia Shauck, Mary Shaw, Tom Tagariello, Andrea Wagner, Marlene Zeddies...
There is nothing more heartbreaking than to see good Shaw done badly. It is not difficult to concoct frothy entertainment from, say, Pygmalion or Misalliance, but Heartbreak House can so easily fall apart in the hands of a less than ideal production--as it does in this American Repertory Theatre rendition...
Director David Wheeler seems convinced that this portrayal of overbred beauties and Hedonists just before the advent of World War I is a lightweight social comedy of manners, instead of what it is--a very angry criticism of the self-absorbed upper classes. There is a deep bitterness in Shaw's depiction of these characters, frittering away their energy in "kissing and coaxing [and] laughing" instead of being concerned about the state of the outside world...
Jeremy Geidt as Captain Shotover provides the best of the performances. He looks--intentionally or otherwise--like Shaw himself, with beetling brows and jutting white beard. Shotover is an 88-year-old man seeking to discover "the seventh level of concentration" through rum and running away from anything that upsets him. As the self-appointed captain of the ship, he is too old and infirm to be able to save it from destruction...
Ultimately, the director is to blame for the failure of this production. Heartbreak House is not designed to be crammed into two hours. Wheeler makes it move at a breathless pace which offers the audience little time to assimilate the intricacy of Shaw's pessimistic vision, leaving them feeling confused and bored...