Heartbreak House

 There's a bit of melancholy lurking around the Cabot Theater these days. Yes, some of it comes from Captain Shotover, the bearded curmudgeon who stars in Shaw's Heartbreak House. But much of it comes from this being the final year of the annual Shaw Festival. After 20 years, the curtain soon will close on the current fest, which features Heartbreak House and Noel Coward'sPresent Laughter. The Shaw Festival has never been a roaring commercial success; in recent years, it has leaned heavily on corporate support for survival. But it has offered a rare glimpse at Shaw's perceptive wit, his intelligence and his humanity. It also has been an excuse to mount some of Shaw's lesser-known works, mainly for the pleasure of those of us who consider ourselves Shavians.

Of Shaw's extensive repertoire, Heartbreak House falls somewhere in mid-range. It is neither completely unknown nor regularly staged. In this production, audiences are introduced to a wacky ancient mariner, named Captain Shotover (Jonathan Smoots). He has two grown daughters. One of them, Mrs. Hesione Hushabye (Angela Iannone), lives in the house with her amiable husband, Hector (Doug Mancheski). Hector's charm and good looks attract no small amount of female attention. Those who fall under his spell include Ellie, an ingenue (Betsy Skowbo), and Hesione's younger sister, Lady Ariadne (Carrie Hitchcock). The latter has arrived unexpectedly after a long absence. There's also an appearance by Ellie's father, Mazzini Dunn (Bill Clifford) and Ellie's unsavory and elderly suitor, Boss Mangan (D. Lance Marsh). The play, set in 1914, is supposed to be Shaw's take on the "disintegration of pre-World War I society." However, under Montgomery Davis' direction, much of this historic angle is completely lost on a modern audience.

The play's first act, which sets up a variety of romantic entanglements, is clearly the most entertaining of the evening. The verbal sparring between the sexes reaches its peak. Additional verbal barbs also are thrown between the upper classes and the lone servant, a hard-working nurse (Ruth Schudson). The poor nurse is kept quite busy with all the unexpected guests. As she bustles about, serving tea and freshening bedrooms, the audience is clearly delighted by all her saucy comments to her "superiors." Schudson, one of the most seasoned actresses in town, makes the most of this opportunity. However, the play becomes exceedingly bogged down in the second and third acts. Trimming at least 30 minutes from the play's nearly three-hour running time would have been welcomed.

Heartbreak House does benefit from an exceptionally talented cast, many of whom are Shaw Festival veterans who certainly know what they're doing. The best of many partnerships is between Ellie (Betsy Skowbo) and Hesione (Angela Iannone). As the worldly-but-jaded Hesione, Iannone is remarkable to watch. Every gesture, every movement, every glance is perfectly choreographed to convey her character's mood. She latches onto the much-younger Ellie as a spider to a fly, only to learn that Ellie is not the innocent she appears to be. Instead of being threatened by Ellie's newfound savvy, however, Hesione admires Ellie as a fellow survivor. Betsy Skowbo convincingly captures her character's transition from sweetly innocent girl to manipulating schemer. The male-female pairings are significantly less interesting. The least successful of these is between Lady Ariadne (Carrie Hitchcock) and Randall (Norman Moses). Moses makes his character more memorable than usual, but even his surefire comic delivery can't make a man out of Randall, a quivering pile of Jell-o. Equally unbelievable is the September-May romance between the cranky sea captain and the no-nonsense Ellie. The actors try to make it work but never come close to pulling off this unlikely romance.

Production values for the Shaw Festival tend to be impressive, especially given the few performances scheduled for each play. For Heartbreak House, set designer Rick Graham has added just enough nautical elements to suggest a seafarer's home. Costumes by Scott Rott are splendidly detailed and richly sumptuous.