Heartbreak House
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Winters, White, Morain, Chandler
Photo by Kevin Berne
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By Sheldon Haun
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is celebrating the opening of its 40th season with George Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House. I am glad to say that I was not entirely heartbroken, only significantly disappointed. It was a noble effort on many fronts, but Les Waters’ direction fell short in a number of instances.
Heartbreak House (1920) is a play that expresses Shaw’s views on war and economics which are worthy of consideration in today’s society. He was a pacifist and a socialist, but does not come right out and declare so in the play. Fortunately, the playwright’s intent was not entirely lost, as by the end of the performance both his humor and his point of view were made clear, but only marginally so.
The problem lies, first of all, in the setting for Acts I and II. Scene designer Annie Smart has created an expansive poop deck of a ship with warm, beautifully finished woodwork that appears to be fresh, polished, neat, and orderly. The near perfect symmetry of the door placements, ceiling hangings, and furniture all create a mood of ease and clarity which is contrary to a script that calls for disorder. On numerous occasions the characters complain that it is “this house” that is the cause of their personal frustrations. Shaw has used the metaphor of the ship as a home in chaos and confusion to represent England and its lack of clear purpose in its wartime endeavors, but the setting in the first two acts contradicts the playwright’s literal and figurative ideas. Consequently, the actions of the characters are not given the physical contrast to magnify Shaw’s view of the leisure class’s ignorance of the dangers that their society faces.
The second problem is lack of extremes in the characterizations. None of the characters successfully capture the playwright’s satirical edge. Of all the characters, Captain Shotover (Michael Winters) is the most glaring. In this production Shotover has the appearance and manner of an energetic, calm, and kindly grandpa. He seems pleasant and rational in contrast to a script which calls for him to be considered a fierce, sea-faring, old salt of a man teetering on the brink of insanity and death. His clothing and well-trimmed beard and hair give the impression of a casual man who is conscious of looking good as opposed to a script which calls for him to be intensely preoccupied with his inventions and an obsessive search for the Seventh Degree of Consciousness. It is Shotover’s home and his total lack of consideration for anyone and anything which must set an environment that should pervade the world of the play, yet such is not the case.
Similarly, the character of Shotover’s daughter, Hermione (Michelle Morain), is weakened as she lacks an appropriate background for her selfish machinations. Hermione is at the hub of the comings and goings of the characters, but her seductive plotting and manipulating of characters loses its delicious naughtiness, seems constrained emotionally, and recovers too easily after she is exposed.
Ellie Dunn (Allison Jean White) does not begin to appear as a naďve youth. Rather, she displays the confidence of a strong young woman right from the start, and this minimizes her growth. Mazzini Dunn (Matt Gottlieb), Ellie’s poor victim of a father, doesn’t start off mousey and ineffectual enough to contrast his later personal assertions. Boss Mangun (David Chandler), the industrialist, demonstrates frustration and ineptitude from the beginning conflict which leaves him little room to take his character at his ultimate “undressing” in later scenes.
All the actors’ performances suffer greatly due to an unfortunate, unnatural rhythm of the dialogue deliveries. Shaw’s language is elaborate and elongated which can be a cause for long playing times, and it seems that all the actors have been directed to “pick up the cues” to eliminate any silent moment that does not move them immediately to the next necessary line. Each actor delivers his/her line immediately upon the completion of the end of the previous actor’s line which leaves not an infinitesimal moment to have a natural reaction. To the actors’ credit, however, once they were engaged in their own lines, all were able to step off the conveyor belt and interestingly convey the intentions of the character with subtlety and variety of inflection.
In the end, Shaw’s play survives the weakness of the production choices.
The third act sets the characters in a cold void where each has their illusions destroyed. Ultimately the setting, lights, costumes, and sound effectively bring us to the realization that Shaw understands the pettiness of humanity.
Heartbreak House runs August 31 through October 14, 2007 in Berkeley Repertory’s Roda Theater. 2025 Addison Street / Berkeley, Ca 94704. Tickets and information 510-647-2949 – toll-free 888-4-BRT-Tix – berkeleyrep.org
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