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Monday, July 7, 2014

REVIEW: “THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE” THE PERFECT CELEBRATION OF AMERICA’S BIRTHDAY

By Ruth Ross

The great Anglo-Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw, never shrank from confronting what he regarded as society's failings—attacking them head on. Whether it be class elitism, snobbery, war-mongering, marriage, government or religion, Shaw often played "devil's advocate" to explore these themes, and used sarcasm and humor to sacrifice these sacred cows.

These skills, along with dramatic tension and an exploration of human nature, are on full display in his charming satire, The Devil's Disciple, the second of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's offerings for the 2014 season. In this play, written in 1894, Shaw shifts his attention from London to New Hampshire on the eve of American independence. He has a field day skewering religion and the military, making some dry and droll comments on the reasons Great Britain lost her North American colonies. And The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey actors brilliantly bring these ideas to life.

STNJ_Disciple_IMG_0119The play is set in late September 1777, in the midst of the Saratoga campaign as the British attempt to gain control of the Hudson River Valley. The looming confrontation between the rebellious Americans and the army of British redcoats has especially affected the lives of the Dudgeon family. Uncle Peter has been hanged by the redcoats, and father Timothy has died and willed his fortune, such as it is, to his eldest son Richard "Dick" Dudgeon, the self-proclaimed "devil's disciple," regarded as the embodiment of "flaming Vice" that runs counter to the rest of the family's straight-laced, puritanical "Virtue." Most people consider Dick to be evil incarnate and avoid any contact with him, except for the village's trusted minister Anthony Anderson, who treats him with courtesy and gives his reputation the benefit of the doubt. Left alone with the minister's wife Judith when her husband goes to the Dudgeon matriarch's deathbed, Dick is arrested by the British who come to arrest and subsequently hang the minister. The ensuing mistaken identity and its ultimate results cause both men, and Judith, to question the meaning of honor and morality. Above: (center) Richard “Dick” Dudgeon (James Knight) argues with an officer of the British Army (Jeffrey Allen Sneed, left) and the Sergeant (Sheffield Chastain, right).  Photo: © Jerry Dalia, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey)

STNJ_Disciple_IMG_9522Experienced director Paul Mullins flexes his directorial muscle to keep the play's melodrama in check, without losing the suspense generated in the more dramatic first act; his light comedic touch is evident in the second act's droll humor, keeping it witty without devolving into farce. Once again, STNJ has gathered a troupe of actors—all but three of them veterans of many seasons with the company. As Anne Dudgeon, Cynthia Mace is the quintessential self-righteous puritan matriarch, judging everything that displeases her as sinful and turning on crocodile tears whenever she speaks of her late husband, whom she despised. She is truly the mother from hell, mistreating her oafish son Christy (an appropriately "thick" Connor Carew) and berating Dick for his wicked ways. The latter even says that he began to worship the devil to throw off the yoke of a strict religious upbringing. Above: The town’s trusted pastor Anthony Anderson (Paul Niebanck) comforts the bereaved Mrs. Dudgeon (Cynthia Mace). Photo: © Jerry Dalia.

STNJ_Disciple_IMG_3030James Knight plays Dick as a charming scoundrel; he stands out like a sore thumb in this priggish group of townspeople. As Shaw's mouthpiece, he is deliciously devilish and outlandish in the first act, but paradoxically becomes the epitome of honor in the second. Knight is a delight to watch; he seduces the audience as quickly as he does Judith, appealingly played by Elizabeth A. Davis as a prim minister's wife whose suppressed passions are aroused by her encounter with the devil's disciple. Above: Richard Dudgeon (James Knight) and Judith Anderson (Elizabeth A. Davis) find common ground in service of her husband, the local pastor. Photo: © Jerry Dalia.

STNJ_Disciple_IMG_3262Her husband Anthony is portrayed by Paul Niebanck as a likable man, not so quick to judge others and clearly in love with his much-younger wife. Matt Sullivan plays the British Major Swindon as a bit of a screw-up, and Edmond Genest's General Burgoyne gets great joy from putting him down. Genest also gets to deliver Shaw's mordant lines criticizing British bureaucracy and the failings of the British army, a feat he achieves with a mischievous look on his face as he says them. Above: (left to right) The well-mannered General Burgoyne, nicknamed “Gentlemanly Johnny” (Edmond Genest) and weary Major Swindon (Matt Sullivan). Photo: © Jerry Dalia.

John Little's pompous Lawyer Hawkins takes potshots at grammar and legalese as he reads Timothy Dudgeon's hastily written will. And as Essie, Uncle Peter's bastard daughter, Katie Willmorth appropriately grovels and cowers in the face of Anne Dudgeon's righteous authority.

Production values are equally as fine. Brittany Vasta has designed a platform that serves as various households and a courtroom, all illuminated by Andrew Hungerford's lighting. Candida Nichols's costumes telegraph Puritanism in blacks, grays and white, but Judith Anderson's flower-sprigged dresses and straw hats befit a young woman and set her apart as different from the townsfolk, as does Dick's fawn-colored coat, rakish tie and tall, brown riding boots. Steven L. Beckel's sound design conveys the foreboding atmosphere and heightens the effect as Dick Dudgeon tells hard truths and expresses his open contempt for hypocrisy.

Dick Dudgeon is the perfect voice for George Bernard Shaw's outspoken criticisms of humankind. And yet it is Reverend (now Captain) Anthony Anderson who utters the line that sums up the play's "message": "It takes all sorts to make a world—saints as well as soldiers." Discovering which character is which is one of the delights of The Devil's Disciple. So celebrate our country's founding (and New Jersey's 350th anniversary) by going to see this keen dissection of what it means to truly be an American, conveyed with humor and wit by one of our state's best theater companies, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.

The Devil's Disciple will be performed at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Avenue (on the Drew University campus), Madison, through July 20. For information and tickets, call the box office at 973.408.5600 or visit www.ShakespeareNJ.org online.

NOTE: This play would be a good introduction to dramatic comedy/satire for your teenaged child, relative or friend.