The Shaw Festival has achieved
international fame with its superb revivals of relatively unknown plays of
significant worth. The latest two are fascinating period pieces.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Githa
Sowerby’sRutherford and Son played in London and on Broadway in 1912,
then virtually disappeared. In the last decade it was revived because of
renewed interest in plays about the “New Woman” from the turn of the 20th
century. But it is actually getting its first Canadian professional production
at the Shaw.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย It’s
unlikely to get a better one. Shaw’s artistic director Jackie Maxwell helms a
sure-handed staging, handsomely designed by director of design William Schmuck,
strikingly lit by veteran Louise Guinand, and authoritatively played by a
virtuoso ensemble. The play’s politics — social, gender-based, sexual, and
economic — are instructive and compelling. But it still seems to go on too
long.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
powerful central role is the autocratic John Rutherford who believes that the
greatest good lies in continuation of his tyrannical patriarchy, which controls
and preserves his glass-manufacturing business, his household, and his family.
Michael Ball dominates the play as Rutherford, but there are several rich
acting roles among his victims and antagonists.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Dylan
Trowbridge gets such heartfelt intensity into the frustrations of Rutherford’s
weak son John that I could empathize with the character despite regarding him
with disdain. Oddly cast as Rutherford’s awkward son Richard, an inept
minister, the usually dashing Mike Shara is seamless as a hopeless misfit who
also somehow engages our sympathy. And Kelli Fox, as Rutherford’s spinster
daughter Janet, almost steals the play when she tears at her father after he
orders her out of his house.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย When
Janet loses her “respectability” in a love affair with Rutherford’s
indispensable working-class assistant, Martin, he dismisses them both. As
Martin, Peter Krantz is touchingly sincere in his affection for Janet and his
doglike insistence on “the master’s” being “in the right.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย But
the center of playwright Sowerby’s early feminist concern is Rutherford’s
daughter-in-law, Mary, played with understated assurance by Nicole Underhay.
Ignored and looked down upon by Rutherford because she had earned her living as
an office worker, Mary is the one member of the household who can sustain herself
if necessary. She is supportive of her husband, but comes into her own when he
effectively deserts her. Mary wins Rutherford’s respect as a “bargainer” by
dictating the terms under which she will continue in his household and give him
her son, his grandson, as an heir.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย John
Murrell’s entertainingWaiting for the Parade is fairly
well known in Canada but, for US audiences, is a refreshingly unfamiliar look
at Canadian participation in World War II. We see five very different women
united in service — wrapping bandages, preparing food packets, learning
first-aid and defense maneuvers, and rehearsing to greet and entertain the
soldiers leaving for the war.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย One,
Marta, is a German-Canadian whose father is interned and mistreated because he
has not become a citizen of Canada. Laurie Paton is mesmerizing in this
‘outsider’ role.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Older
than the others, Margaret has a special problem: One of her sons is to be sent
overseas; the other is under arrest for Communist opposition to the war. Until
she finally decides that she is “tired of being old” and paints on the fake
stockings of the time, Donna Belleville’s Margaret is pretty much a one-note
character.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย So
is Helen Taylor’s Janet, the bossy woman in charge of this group of wartime
volunteers, except that her excessive enthusiasm is slightly etched with
satire, and her piano playing revealingly indicates her changing moods.
Taylor’s delayed variety in her acting pays off later, when we see Janet’s
vulnerable bitterness as she learns how her husband betrayed her insistence on
his “important war effort.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย All
I can remember about Eve is that she is obsessed with actor Leslie Howard. That
may or may not be actress Jenny L. Wright’s fault.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Most
impressive, Kelli Fox — unrecognizable as the actress who plays Rutherford’s
daughter — is tough-talking Catherine, a sexy blonde who boozes and commits
minor infidelities to deal with her husband’s being missing in action. She is
riveting throughout.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย I
don’t think that director Linda Moore brings much imagination to this loosely
connected script. With its dancing, singing, and flavorful monologues, the play
holds us and is entertaining and occasionally touching. But its staging could
have more variety and theatrical excitement.
Wild cheers
followed the opening of Man and Superman at the Shaw
Festival for a superlative production, but also for the pleasure of completing
a rare and demanding experience. Though seldom performed in its entirely
elsewhere, G.B. Shaw’s long play was performed whole at this festival in 1966,
1977, and 1989.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Shaw’s Man and Superman is
more often performed without the “dream” sequence between Acts III
and IV, known as Don Juan In Hell. Only two performances now remain
— on July 22 and 25 — of the 11 scheduled to include Don Juan In Hell.
The entire original play runs six hours, including two intermissions and a
one-hour lunch break.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Shaw called this play “a comedy and
a philosophy” because central to its intellectual frolics is a serious argument
for a Darwinian/Nietzschean belief in an overwhelming “life force.” Tanner,
Shaw’s primary spokesman in the play, may be a posturing radical even more than
his dream-persona, Don Juan, is a bombastic nonconformist. But both are
virtually evangelical about the power of the Life Force to cause man to evolve
into a higher form.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The plot is another of Shaw’s
satires on “middle class morality,” starting with his usual inverted
commonplaces: a sweet girl who tyrannizes everyone with her helplessness; a
free-thinking leader who hasn’t had a forward-looking thought in decades; a chauffeur
snobbish about his working-class know-how; and a millionaire who has to beg the
daughter-in-law he doesn’t approve of to take his money. But it gets wilder
when we move implausibly to the Spanish mountains and meet philosophizing
brigands who would rather debate politics than rob people.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย One has to discover in performance
what all this has to do with the most urbane Devil and pleasure-ridden hell in
literature, and how wordy debates in hell can become laugh-riots with the
audience applauding each long speech.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Neil Munro directs a remarkably
lively and inventive staging, ably assisted by Peter Hartwell’s bare-looking
designs that become wildly elaborate in entirely unrealistic ways. Kevin
Lamotte’s often startling lighting and Paul Sportelli’s clever, jazzy music
help to surprise pleasingly by keeping expectations off-balance. And a gifted
cast seems to work against stereotype in making each role one we need to pay
attention to.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Without the Don Juan In Hell sequence, Man and Superman loses an interval and a lunch break and is less
than four hours long, but it is still a substantial work, a delightful comedy,
and perhaps Shaw’s masterpiece. In either form, this is a must-see revival.
Shaw Festival,
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario: Githa Sowerby’s Rutherford and Son at the Court House Theatre through October 9; John Murrell’s Waiting for the Parade,at the
Royal George Theatre through October 9; George Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman at The Festival Theatre through October 9; $20-$95 ($14.67 to
$56.49 Canadian). 800-511-7429, www.shawfest.com
This article appears in Jul 21-27, 2004.
