Shaw, at his irascible, intellectual best

by John Glore

The play starts on child-rearing. Then it takes up the parent-child relationship; men of mind vs. men of the body; women's make-up; marriage; the selection of an ideal mate; the aristocracy vs. the middle class; philanthropy and public service; the Bible; ideas vs. action; Providence; governance; literature and the theatre; the young vs. the old; May-December romance; British morality; manly women; and womanly men; love; prayer; manners vs. the truth; freedom of will vs. convention; capitalism vs. socialism; women's independence: These are some of the subjects discussed in George Bernard Shaw's Misalliance. Who can blame the energetic Hypatia Tarleton when she finally exclaims in exasperation, "Oh, what a bore!; WHAT a bore!!! Talk! talk! talk!"

Clearly Hypatia, the young woman of the Tarleton household, has had enough. Yet chances are if Hypatia were sitting among us in the theatre, she would recognize the brilliance of all that talk, its ability to amuse, tantalize, provoke, stimulate. She would acknowledge that no one writes talk and juggles ideas as well as Shaw does.

For just as Shaw believed that every individual human life was an expression of the universal Life Force, he understood that every idea ultimately connects to the universe of ideas available to human consciousness. If civilization has deep-seated problems (and Shaw certainly thought so), then the way civilization is handed down from one generation to the next has much to do with the creation and perpetuation of those problems. Thus the subject of child-rearing, as considered by Shaw in Misalliance, must inevitably open up the wide spectrum of ideas touched upon in the play.

George Bernard Shaw

From our seats in the theatre, we can appreciate that, particularly when the ideas are handled with such wit and are given voice by such full-blooded and amusing characters; but poor Hypatia, who doesn't share our perspective, only knows she has suffered the torture of living her entire 25 years in a house filled with nothing but talk. She yearns for action, for adventure, for something—anything—to happen. In the meantime she looks for any way out of the house, even if it means marrying that squeak of a man, Bentley Summerhays.

Little does she know that this day, something finally will happen in the Tarleton household. Two unusual visitors will drop in—quite literally—and irrevocably change the course of events. And events will be further shaken up by the arrival of a third stranger, who has come, with gun in hand, to find justice. Of course, in the end the surprising events only give rise to more talk, but by that time Hypatia has found her adventure and her escape.

The curious thing is that Shaw himself would be in sympathy with Hypatia's desire for an end to all the talk. His plays champion those characters who go beyond talk to action, who go beyond ideas to the enactment of ideas for the sake of Shaw's beloved Creative Evolution. Only one character in Misalliance fully qualifies as a Shavian hero in this respect—for even the energetic Hypatia suffers from an unfocused, somewhat frivolous notion of action. Only the "man-woman" Lina Szczepanowska, who drops in unexpectedly, has what it takes to silence all the words with a bold call to action. She is Shaw's ideal, the kind of superwoman whom he would like to see change the world.

If Shaw scorned words, you might well wonder why he wrote so many of them in his prefaces and plays. The answer is that Shaw only scorned words divorced from meaningful action. For Shaw, words were his art; and art was his action—one of the most important kinds of action available to mankind, in his opinion. Shaw spent his 94-year life trying to impress upon a world only half interested in listening, his vision of a better world. Not incidentally he found a highly theatrical and entertaining way to convey that vision, never missing an opportunity to win his way into people's minds through their funny-bones. Today, more than 125 years after he wrote his first play, Shaw's form of action reverberates in a world still tickled by his theatrical effervescence and still very much in need of his vision.

Veterans, Newcomers Align for Misalliance Director Martin Benson has assembled a stellar creative team and cast for Misalliance, a play he first directed for SCR in 1987 to critical and audience acclaim. Benson is joined by two designers who worked on that original production—Ralph Funicello (sets) and Tom Ruzika (lights). Costume designer Maggie Morgan, composer/sound designer Michael Roth and Associate Director Oanh Nguyen round out the show’s creative team. Benson’s exceptional cast includes a company of talented SCR veterans and newcomers. Dakin Matthews (Hamlet, Major Barbara) returns to SCR to play patriarch John Tarleton, alongside founding company member Richard Doyle (A View From the Bridge, Major Barbara) as the aristocratic Lord Summerhays. Actress Melanie Lora (Collected Stories) plays Tarleton’s precocious daughter Hypatia, with Kirsten Potter (The Heiress, Taking Steps) playing the daring acrobat Lina Szczepanowska. Rounding out the cast are Daniel Bess (King Lear, Anteaus Theatre Company) as John Tarleton, Jr., JD Cullum (Pig Farm, Major Barbara, The Dazzle) as Julius Baker, Wyatt Fenner (Loot, Ensemble Studio Theatre) as Bentley Summerhays, Peter Katona (A Feminine Ending) as Joey Percival, and Amelia White (The Heiress, The Importance of Being Earnest) as Mrs. Tarleton. THE CAST:  (from left to right) Wyatt Fenner, Dakin Matthews, Kirsten Potter, JD Cullum, Richard Doyle, Daniel Bess, Melanie Lora, Amelia White and Peter Katona.

Five for U.S. Bank

Bill Cave, Market President of U.S. Bank, and his wife, Christy.

As Corporate Honorary Producer of Misalliance, U.S. Bank adds a comedy classic to its history of underwriting for SCR. And it’s an eclectic history, which encompasses the holidays, family theatre, gothic comedy and American musicals. In other words, U.S. Bank has underwritten the 30th annual production of A Christmas Carol; a Theatre for Young Audiences play, The Stinky Cheese Man; Beth Henley’s Ridiculous Fraud; and Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music.

“U.S. Bank is thrilled to continue as Honorary Producer with the George Bernard Shaw classic Misalliance,” said William R. Cave, Market President. “SCR plays a big role in bringing the highest caliber theatre to Orange County, and we are proud and pleased to offer our support.”

U.S. Bank is the sixth-largest commercial bank in the United States, with 559 California branches, more than 300 of them in Southern California. U.S. Bank connects with its communities through affordable housing, economic opportunity, education, arts and culture and community service.

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