photo by Tom Bloom


 

 "We are useless, dangerous, and ought to be abolished" says the philandering Hector Hushabye, referring to his household of assorted relatives and hangers on. His good looks and elegant manners undermine his moral credibility, but the irony is intended.  Shaw damned the upper class as charming, clever parasites in every play, novel and pamphlet he ever wrote. With "Heartbreak House," he broke with his favorite form of tight problem play and adopted a loose "Fantasia in the Russian Manner," his homage to Chekhov in the play's subtitle. Instead of debating the Shavian social revolution, his characters this time convey the mood of a country villa reminiscent of Cherry Orchard where nothing much happens in a leisurely, complacent fashion.

 The beautiful daughters of the drunken patriarch Captain Shotover and their guests glide through drawing room and garden in lovely gowns, without direction or purpose. They entertain romantic fantasies about marriage and money, ideally to be united in one partner. They judge themselves and each other for their foibles. They all, including the dunderhead man of business, Boss Mangan, are bankrupt, financially and morally. If they truly resemble either the ruling or the monied classes circa 1913, when Shaw started the play, to 1916 when he finished it, one wonders how England won the war; it's rumbling in the wings at the end of Act 3.  Hesione Hushabye finds the sound of falling  bombs thrilling; Hector turns on all the lights of the house to guide the Zepps.

 "Heartbreak House" is the dark side of romantic comedy negating its own tradition of cheerful optimism. Here Shaw writes at his gloomiest. Some corner of his soul still believes in social equity, political responsibility, anti-capitalism, and a no-nonsense practical realism, but no character passionately embraces his cause. The action undermines any illusions about a triumphant Utopia on the horizon. To the contrary, the ship of state–the play takes a nautical metaphor---drifts toward certain destruction. Captain Shotover, the clownish eighty eight year old who speaks for Shaw, packs sticks of dynamite like six shooters in order to blow up "people like Mangan" and the whole human race if necessary.  The clever daughters play flirtatious games out of laziness and without scruple. They have no hearts to break, the Captain barks out.  Ellie Dunn the ingenue begins her visit to the House as a foolish girl in love with the fabricator Hector Hushabye and ends up a realist ready to marry the dotty Captain whose wisdom comes from rum. Her father, a version of "Pygmalion's" Doolittle, lacks his divine spark. These characters specialize in potentially virulent forms of obliviousness. Two of them, Mangan and Dunn, manage to get blown up by the first bombs as they fool around in a gravel pit in the garden. Shaw detested business men and clearly marked Mangan for extinction.

 The inhabitants of  "Heartbreak House" at the Pearl Theater appear to be as pretty, idle and frivolous as Shaw's people, but are essentially harmless. The actors are too nice to be spiritual rotters and too good willed to be sailing into apocalypse. They speak well, but scenes in this play don't take their shape from witty banter, Shaw's trademark. The script instead rambles, collects its meanings by accretion, includes odd entrances and exits, and a few strange recognition scenes. The first comes in Act I, when Hesione Hushabye fails to know her young guest Ellie Dunn, or Mangan a few minutes later, or her brother in law, Randall, yet the mistaken identities fail to count as comic machinery of plot. In a word, the play comes closer than any of Shaw's to being plotless. Form matches the metaphoric aimlessness. The set is simple, the costumes beautiful.
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The Pearl Theatre, 80 St. Marks Place, 212-505-3401
Directed by Gus Kaikkonen; Costume, Liz Covey; Lighting, Stephen Petrilli; Sound, Christopher J. Bailey. With Rachel Botchan (Ellie Dunn), Nada Roward (Nurse Guinness), George Morfogen (Captain Shotover), Robin Leslie Brown (Ariadne, Lady Utterword), Joanne Camp (Hesione Hushabye), Edward Seamon (Mazzini Dunn), Russ Anderson (Hector Hushabye), Dan Daily (Boss Mangan), Cominic Cuskern (Randall Utterword), Robert Hock (A Burglar).