Review: SHAW SHORTS, Orange Tree Theatre

It will come as no surprise to those who are familiar with the output of Richmond's Orange Tree Theatre that Bernard Shaw is the first pick for what the theatre is calling their Recovery Season. Artistic Director Paul Miller has directed several Shaw plays here, most recently Candida in 2019. In this quick-witted revival of two of Shaw's short plays, social expectations and marriage are skewered in typical Shavian style.

The first play, How He Lied To Her Husband, is a thinly veiled satire inspired by Candida, and even refers to it playing at the theatre. In a familiar love triangle, Aurora is a married woman having an affair with a much younger man, Henry. When she misplaces the poems he has written to her, Aurora is in despair about the consequences. Her husband Teddy then arrives home with the poems and a sharply performed farce ensues.

Dorothea Myer-Bennett is excellent as Aurora; flitting between belief in herself as a daring romantic and then, tearfully, a married woman scared of tarnishing her reputation in society.

As her young lover, Joe Bolland carries himself well as the idealist Henry; he has a good physicality and moves from great intensity to slight hysterics. Jordan Mifsúd is also very amusing as the fiercely protective husband, Teddy.

Despite the engaging cast, the play feels a little empty. In essence a shorter version of Candida, it is not clear that Shaw has anything new to say here.

Overruled is more successful as a farcical soap opera. This bright, fast-moving and funny play follows two strangers who meet on a boat and fall in love. Realising they are both married stops them in their tracks, but the discovery that their respective spouses have also joined up leads to a meeting of the foursome that brings more than any of them anticipated.

Whether actual adultery has occurred is left unknown. Playful debate and commentary on their marriages and lives ensues as the two couples ponder whether to stay together or swap spouses. As the absurdity increases, both men also appear to forget to whom they are actually married.

Alex Bhat is relentlessly funny as the intense and blustering Gregory Lunn, smitten with Mrs Juno (a light-hearted and slightly bemused Hara Yannas). Much of his comedy comes from how he is visibly stricken by conscience when he learns that Mrs Juno is married and then how ardently he refuses to acknowledge that he has sinned with any intent.

Jordan Mifsúd returns as the repressed Mr Juno, desperate to embrace immorality but also feeling deep guilt for doing so. Dorothea Myer-Bennett is vampish and calmly seductive as Mrs Lunn, wanting to be amused rather than desired. Both Mifsúd and Myer-Bennet show remarkable distinction between these characters and those from the previous play.

Both productions are anchored by their casts, who nimbly carry Shaw's elegant and clever use of language. They have a lovely chemistry and bounce off each other in a very comfortable manner. Miller deftly maintains the relentless pace in both plays but particularly in Overruled. Despite the typical Shavian lack of any real passion, fans will love the familiar mockery of the constraints of marriage and the confounding of social expectations.

For anyone nervous about returning to the theatre, the Orange Tree is an excellent place to start. New entrances have been created for the lower and top tiers to minimise contact, timed entrance slots are given and protocols are strictly adhered to: seating capacity has dropped to 72 from the usual 180. It is also nice that the short shows can be booked together or separately, in case audiences wish to minimise time spent inside the theatre.

Shaw Shorts is at the Orange Tree Theatre until 26 June. How He Lied To Her Husband and Overruled can be booked separately, or as a double-bill. Both will be live-streamed on 3 & 4 June.

Photo Credit: The Other Richard