Review: HEARTBREAK HOUSE at Antaeus Theatre Company

While not George Bernard Shaw’s most famous play (that would be “Pygmalion”), HEARTBREAK HOUSE (full original name: Heartbreak House: A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes”) is a charming look at the class system in 1920s England and how each caste responds to world events and the minutiae of their lives. Shaw wrote it in response to World War I and his disenchantment with Britain, and, frighteningly, his frustration with his country mirrors our frustrations with our own country right now. The more things change, I guess.

When Ellie Dunn (Elinor Gunn) is invited to Hesione Hushabye’s (Jocelyn Towne) country house for a dinner party, she and her father (Arye Gross) upend the already chaotic household, testing the patience of Captain Shotover (Harry Groener), the grouchy family patriarch, who is also nonplussed by the arrival of his prodigal daughter Ariadne (Carolyn Ratteray), who has just swooped in from India where she has been living abroad for many years.

First performed in New York in 1920 before relocating to London the following year, the show was not initially warmly received, though it has been reevaluated through the past century. Directed by Antaeus artistic director Nike Doukas, the cast is composed entirely of Antaean company members, and their familiarity with each other may be why there is such a warmth among the characters, even when they clash. Doukas stages the show with a briskness that is never rushed, allowing the inhabitants to come together and come apart over an almost-magical night.

Shaw does a splendid job of juggling a fairly big ensemble, giving each character an arc and scenes that really let them shine. Part farce, part satire, part screwball, part drawing room play, it is, overall, very British, and the cast pulls that off with aplomb, thanks in part to dialect coach Sean Spann. The show is delightful (even if it does run a little long at two hours and 40 minutes) with breezy, witty dialogue and silly, sticky situations that somehow work out by the end, leading to a dark and powerful conclusion, a snapshot of the politics and mores of the time.

The scenic design by Angela Balogh Calin and the lighting by Karyn D. Lawrence set the perfect mood for such a daydream of a story, while Kate Bergh’s costumes are exquisite. Gunn grounds the proceedings as Ellie, as she slowly reveals additional layers to her character, and Towne is sparkling, as usual. Groener, while playing a blowhard, always has a vein of empathy underneath. Henri Lubatti is a delight as a charming cad of a Casanova while Amelia White as the family nurse wrings consistently big laughs from one of the smaller roles, and Alberto Isaac is a comedic marvel as an Unexpected Guest.

HEARTBREAK HOUSE marks the start of Antaeus Theatre Company’s thirty-fifth anniversary season, and it bodes well for what they have in store. The company stages consistently solid productions and this is another feather in its cap. The show is funny, insightful, and moving, landing with a potent emotional wallop. One can only hope in another hundred years’ time that it won’t still be relevant.

Photos by Craig Schwartz Photography

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