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<p class="MsoNormal"><b style>“Heartbreak House” a
long sit, but the acting quality may make it worth the effort</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Roy Berko</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt">(Member, American Theatre
Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">George Bernard Shaw, considered by many to be the premiere
English playwright of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, had
very set opinions, which he expressed in his writing.<span style> </span>A member of the Fabian Society, which was an utopian
movement dedicated to establishing a socialist society, he attacked the English
education system, organized religion, the blindness of the upper classes in
ignoring not the needs of others, but for living lives of deceit and
hypocrisy.<span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Shaw felt that women were the “wiser” and “stronger” of the
sexes, that war was an unnecessary evil, and that people and governments could
change.<span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He wrote dramas filled with comedy and often included
farcical overtones.<span style> </span>He mocked and
satirized to make his points.<span style> </span>Many
of his plays, as was the style of the day, were three act, three-hour epics.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Shaw is often compared to the Russian playwright, Chekhov,
who also wrote of the unwillingness of the upper classes to recognize that “the
revolution is coming,” thus earning him the title of the “literary father of
the Russian Revolution.”<span style> </span>Shaw
never met with the political effect of Chekov, but his attitudes toward women’s
equality and the rise of Socialism, came to pass.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Shaw wrote “Heartbreak House” in 1912, but due to the
outbreak of World War I, the opening was delayed until after the war.<span style> </span>Ironically, many of the pronouncements
he had made in the script were enacted by the time the play was produced.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The play takes place mainly in a room in a manor named
Heartbreak House, which is designed to recreate the interior of a sailing
ship.<span style> </span>The place is owned by The
Captain, a former maritime skipper.<span style>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The house is a metaphor for a place where the captain and
his crew (the family and guests) journey together through good and bad,
beautiful days and rain- filled eras.<span style>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Each of the characters in the play represents some facet of
British society.<span style> </span>There is Mangan,
the business tycoon, who has been offered a place in the British government but
is, in reality, a fake; the captain’s daughter, Hesione, a modern Brit with
Bohemian attitudes; Mazzini, a nice person who is taken advantage of; Ellie,
Mazzini’s daughter, who will do anything to marry for money as she believes
this is the only way to happiness; Ariadne, the old time/old liner who believes
manners and class standing are most important; and Randall, the pampered man
who has inherited wealth and has no reason or purpose in life.<span style> </span>They each represent what Shaw saw as,
“ignorance and indifference exhibited by the upper and upper-middle class that
was self-indulgent and lacked the understanding of the central issues of that
days British society.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(28,28,28)">Hanging over the entire play is the threat of war,
which, even when it comes, is not fully realized by the inhabitants of
Heartbreak House. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(28,28,28)"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(28,28,28)">Traditionally, local play productions are presented by
theatrical producers (PlayhouseSquare, Great Lakes Theatre), sponsoring
theatres (e.g., Dobama, Beck Center), civic sponsors (Solon Center for the
Arts), or educational institutions.<span style>
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(28,28,28)"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(28,28,28)">“Heartbreak House” is produced under the auspices of
the Actors’ Equity Association Members’ Project Code.<span style> </span>The MPC </span><span style>was created in 1987 by Equity, the labor union that
represents professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, for the
purpose of permitting members to showcase their talents.<span style> </span>As of now, according to director,
Bernadette Clemens, this<span style> </span>staging
of “Heartbreak House” is a one-time event.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>Most plays showcased in the area, unless they are a professional touring
company, may have none or a few equity members.<span style> </span>In this production eleven of the twelve of the cast are
equity members.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>One issue with Shaw is that his plays are long. Most modern productions
are cut so that they run about 2 hours.<span style>
</span>Not this production.<span style> </span>It is
the full script.<span style> </span>This gives the
viewer the advantage of hearing the entire presentation of the Shavian language
as the author intended it.<span style> </span>Viewers
who are used to the recent trend in theatre of ninety-minute stagings will
probably find this a long sit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>The cast are all excellent, but, due to the very live acoustics in the
Pilgrim Church theatre, there are echoes which bounce around and make for
unclear sounds.<span style> </span>This is especially
obvious when actors, trained to project in large performance spaces and
proscenium stages with no microphones allow their full voices to boom in the small
enclosure.<span style> </span>This makes
understanding difficult. Also, because of the echo, those speaking in heavy
dialects sound garbled.<span style> </span>It’s a
shame because, though the acting is superb, many of the spoken words are
unintelligible.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>Director Bernadette Clemens’ staging was excellent and the pacing kept
the show moving, but she needed to work with some of the cast to modify the
yelling and vocalizations to avoid sound overload.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>Jason Coale’s scenic and lighting designs and Inda Blatch-Geib’s
costumes enhance the production.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>Any organization using the Pilgrim Church auditorium must work on sound
baffling and make their casts aware that excessive projection equals a lack of
vocal clarity.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style>CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:<span style> </span>Those interested in being exposed to
George Bernard Shaw and his philosophy of life,<span style> </span>the beauty of his language, and his use of humor and satire
to develop his message, and are willing to sit through three hours of words,
words and more words, many of which can’t be grasped because of the echo in the
theatre, will enjoy the MPC production.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style> </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Heartbreak House: runs through June 29, 2014 at Pilgrim
Church in Tremont.<span style> </span>For
tickets<span style> </span>call 216-570-3403 or go to
<a href="http://www.heartbreakhouse.org">http://www.heartbreakhouse.org</a><span style></span></p>
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