Word: undershaft
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...machinations hasten the entrance of Major Barbara. The comforting commander, made even more soothing by Ellen Anderman's empathetic performance, douses the raging Beckhard. But the arrival of the play's two strongest characters-Cousins, Barbara's boyfriend, and Undershaft, her father-threatens, and eventually undermines Anderson's moderating role...
Chapman's directorial talents emerge as he harnesses the brute power of the hulking Jon Epstein. The director bottles Epstein into the cold and calculating Undershaft of this second act. In this section we hate this mild-mannered munitions manufacturer who wants to donate his blood-stained profits to the sweet cause of salvation...
Chapman also channels the talents of John Majors into a penetrating Cousin, who accentuates Undershaft's demonical doctrines as he confronts him. Once Majors conquers his inappropriate Trotsky-like appearance and stops pounding his irritating drum, there ensues a battle which erases any doubt that Undershaft might not be "an infernal old rascal." As the single act draws to a close and Ellen Anderman unconvincingly projects Major Barbara's breakdown, the lingering image of the triumphant Undershaft provides a good conclusion for a play left...
...helps that this is one of Shaw's finer plays. While Barbara Undershaft (Jane Alexander), who does the Christian God's goodly work among the poor, owns the play's title, it is her munitions tycoon of a father, Andrew (Lee Richardson), wielding the twin thunderbolts of "money and gunpowder," who is the capitalistic Zeus. Shaw himself had a Caesar complex. He was fascinated by absolute power and that explained his deplorable temporary enthusiasms for Hitler and Stalin. But his Undershaft is of another breed. This merchant of death is also an apostle of life...
...have to voice my annoyance at the director's unwillingness to trust Shaw's text. For some reason he felt it advisable to alter a number of phrases and to make some substantial cuts in the latter portion of the script. Gone are the remarks about Undershaft's Jewish partner Lasarus; gone are some delectable barbs aimed at Parliament; gone is Adolphus's philosophizing about power. Surely, Mr. Sheria, in a performance that runs two hours and twenty minutes, we could hold our seats for ten minutes more. But thanks for doing so well with what you consented to give...