Jonathan J. Miner
Hypatia (Emmaline Frederichs) finds romance with the dashing pilot Joey Percival (Kyle Baldauf).
As part of its “British Invasion” season, Strollers Theatre Company has done nice work tackling George Bernard Shaw’s challenging Misalliance. Sometimes described as a farce, the show ends up being a hyper-talky comedy of manners. It includes plenty of witty and wise banter, even if it comes off as a bit preachy and scoldy.
The action of Misalliance — or rather talking —takes place in a greenhouse atrium of an English country home belonging to John Tarleton (Carl Cawthorne). He’s made a fortune selling underwear and now spends his time funding libraries and bossily telling everyone which books they need to read (“Read Ibsen,” “Read Darwin,” etc.) His daughter Hypatia (Emmaline Friederichs) is about to wed the clever but simpering aristocrat Bentley Summerhays (Sean Langenecker). Skirmishes break out between just about everyone in the cast in response to the potential “misalliance” of their union. But the arguments go on to cover myriad topics, giving Shaw the opportunity to lecture (through his characters) on classism, socialism, marriage, family relationships, hypocrisy and even exercise.
It seems that Bentley (a.k.a. “Bunny”) rubs just about everyone the wrong way, including his fiancé and his own father, Lord Summerhays (Coleman), who has also proposed to Hypatia. Hypatia’s brother Johnny (Benjamin Barlow), now running the underwear empire, is particularly peevish about his sister’s union. Meanwhile, Hypatia’s mother (Rebecca Raether) engages her daughter in a compelling discussion on marriage, manners and the station of women.
Hypatia declares that she wants to be an “active verb”; she wishes adventure would “drop out of the sky.” Adventure does indeed drop out of the sky in the form of a dashing pilot, Joey Percival (Kyle Baldauf) — who captures Hypatia’s fancy — and Polish acrobat Lina (Heather Jane Farr), who captures everyone’s fancy. A mysterious and menacing stranger (Bryan Royston as the aptly named Gunner) also suddenly appears to confront the Tarleton patriarch about his past. The arrival of this lowly clerk with a forthright nature gives the assembled guests the opportunity to attempt to badger and manipulate him.
Director Sam D. White gets solid performances out of the cast. Cawthorne is especially good in his portrayal of this blustery upper-middle-class underwear mogul; he agitates his arms stiffly around his torso when he gets worked up. And Langenecker strikes just the right notes as the simpering and tantruming aristocrat, Bentley. Farr has lots of fun as the alluring and feisty Lina, but her accent reads more Russian than Polish.
It’s a handsome production with excellent work from set designer Katherine K. White and costume designers Marie Schultie and Raven Albrecht. I should also note that there is plenty of genuinely impressive period-appropriate facial hair.
Because the show involves a nonstop barrage of words (or “talk, talk, talk” as Hypatia points out when complaining that her family only ever discusses things, but never does anything), the transition to moment of moments of broader physical comedy can be awkward. But Shaw gives the audience plenty to think (and talk) about, and it is striking to consider how bold and provocative this play was when it premiered in 1910.
