By Ruth Ross
They may be called the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, but luckily for theatergoers, their dramatic scope extends beyond the Bard. This year, they've given us a comedy by George S. Kauffman and Edna Ferber, a riotous romp by the great Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár, and a silly romantic comedy by William Shakespeare—all in the space of just over two months!
As their fourth production of the 2015 season, the professional theater based on the campus of Drew University in Madison presents another comedy (does there seem to be a theme here?), this one by the great Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, Misalliance. In true Shavian fashion, he satirizes parenthood, marriage, the role of women, class, respectability (or the lack thereof), physical fitness and socialism—all to great comedic effect. Clocking in at two and three-quarter hours, the play, subtitled by Shaw A Debate in One Sitting, features sparkling performances, taut direction, witty repartee, lots of talk and bombast in spades.
The term misalliance in this play relates to the romantic entanglements of a varied group of people gathered at the home of the wealthy underwear tycoon John Tarleton. Over the course of the afternoon, eight marriage proposals are offered; whether any of these is a suitable alliance, or misalliance, can be summed up by the aristocratic widower Lord Summerhays (Jonathan Gillard Daly, above right, with Katie Zabel), who observes, "If marriages were made by putting all the men's names into one sack and the women's names into another, and having them taken out by a blind-folded child like lottery numbers, there would be just as high a percentage of happy marriages as we have now."
Most of the romantic attention centers around the Tarleton daughter, the independent and wild Hypatia (called Patsy by her doting father), who rejects the studied respectability practiced by her mother (just talking about sewage makes Mrs. T. squirm with discomfort), the need to be subservient to men and ladylike in all situations in favor of determining her own destiny. Her claim to independence is bolstered by the sudden arrival (in a plane crash that flattens the estate greenhouse!) of the Polish female daredevil, Lina Szczepanowska (above, Caralyn Kozlowski), a circus acrobat whose vitality and energy attract the male guests, regardless of age! She, of course, represents Shaw's "ideal woman," a woman uninterested in marriage and with a strong desire to remain free of financial, intellectual and physical bonds.
The party is further disrupted by the arrival of a young man with a gun, out to get back at Tarleton for a long-ago affair that apparently "ruined" his late mother. His arrival doesn't much advance the plot, but it gives Shaw another opportunity to espouse his affection for Socialism through long speeches where the lowly young cashier inveighs against economic inequality, conventional views of marriage and the overarching ideas of class that govern British society.
The difficult task of keeping such a long, talky play moving along steadily is handled dandily by director Stephen Brown-Fried; I understand that there was quite a bit of trimming to get Misalliance down from three to two acts. Brian Clinnin has designed an elegant Edwardian solarium on which the action unfolds; Tilly Grimes's costumes beautifully reinforce the era while delineating the class differences between the middle class Tarletons, the aristocratic Summerhays father and son, and the socialist intruder. And Toby Algya's sound design makes us really think an airplane is about to crash-land on the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre.
STNJ's Misalliance is served equally as well by its cast of nine. Ames Adamson (right) turns in a tour-de-force performance as paterfamilias John Tarleton, intent on improving his mind and experiencing "the joy of life"; his penchant for quoting an author to support his pronouncements is hilarious and indicative of a self-educated man. Adamson so assumes the role of exasperated father that I was afraid he'd have a stroke! His offspring could not be more different from each other. Johnny, expertly played by Brian Cade, is a conventional, boring young man, uninterested in anything except business and a bit of a bully to boot. In the more central role as his sister Hypathia, Katie Fabel turns in an exceptional performance as a serial flirt, a wild child, determined to break the bonds of propriety. She gets to utter some juicy opinions on love ("Who would risk marrying a man for love," she asks), run after several men of varying ages and infuriating her father to no end. The antidote to this social mayhem is Erika Rolfsrud's portrayal of Mrs. Tarleton as a calm, no-nonsense, sedate matron; she even defuses the dangerous situation between her spouse and the enraged gunman! She is a cool breeze in this hotbed of argument!
The other father son pair, the Summerhayses, provide Shaw with a chance to skewer the aristocracy. Jonathan Gillard Daly's Lord Summerhays views all problems through the lens of a British commander of a province in India; much of what he spouts is utter nonsense, but Daly infuses the character with a dignity he very nearly loses in some sparring with Hypatia. As his scion, the effete Bentley (called "Bunny"), Matthew Sherbach is terrifically funny; his portrayal is reminiscent of Peewee Herman, but he arouses our sympathy for an immature young man with nothing to do to prove himself. At least Shaw provides some hope for him in the play's final scene.
Almost stealing the show from these pros is an equally accomplished actress familiar to STNJ audiences, Caralyn Kozlowski (left) as Lina Szczepanowska, the acrobat who performs levitating exercises, grabs the men and hauls them off for some physical fitness, and in a long speech near the end of the play gives voice to Shaw's revolutionary ideas on women's place in society (which she delivers in a never-flagging Polish accent). Energetic and vital in her form-fitting trousers and boots, Kozlowski's Lina is a wonderful contrast to the corseted, beruffled Tarleton women, and very enticing to all the men.
The final duo, Robbie Simpson as the hapless pilot Joey Percival (right, with Daly and Adamson) and Matt Kleckner as the young male intruder, provide splendid support. Simpson's transformation from uptight prig to more-than-willing suitor of Hypathia is droll. Kleckner is terrific as the odd man out; his disdain for the idle rich is palpable and rather poignant.
Set (and written in 1909), Misalliance puts forth ideas about marriage and independent women that would not change for another decade; certainly, here in the United States, they never existed. Nevertheless, the idea that men say they want a woman who will be obedient and subservient when want they really want is a strong woman who will be their equal partner resonates today. The battle of the sexes (not to mention economic inequality and gender politics) is ongoing. To hear the master satirist/playwright George Bernard Shaw tackle these issues in a splendid production by the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey is a real treat. If you saw (and enjoyed) last year's Shaw play, The Devil's Disciple, you won't be disappointed.
Misalliance will be performed at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre on the campus of Drew University in Madison through August 30. For information and tickets, call the box office at 973.408.5600 or visit www.ShakespeareNJ.org online.
