Fancy, game playing, heartbreak, illusion and, finally, joyful destruction; this is the measure of George Bernard Shaw’s comedy Heartbreak House and the final mainstay of the Shuswap Theatre season.
Heartbreak House is set just prior to the First World War, when the moneyed classes were oh so sure of themselves and their appetites – so sure that a world war might be an interesting diversion.
Heartbreak House is presided over by Captain Shotover, a retired ship captain, current inventor and forever opinionated eccentric.
His daughters have married badly in his eyes – one to a dim-witted plodder, another to a sharp-witted layabout.
Enter the house Ellie Dunn, daughter of a failed businessman, who intends to marry the ruthless capitalist who ruined her father for reparations, if for nothing else.
All the players, husbands, fathers, wives, daughters, aging playboy, a burglar – come together in “this silly house, this strangely happy house, this agonizing house, this house without foundations, this house full of surprises.”
Said Shaw about his play, “It has more of the miracle, more of the mystic belief in it than any of my others.”
The wonderful challenge of producing a play by a major playwright is exploring all the layers that comprise that script, says director James Bowlby.
“The many themes that present themselves in Heartbreak House are, in part, symbolically found in the characters that carry them,” he says. “Mangan, the CEO, who seems to be a billionaire; Mazzini Dunn, the manager, idealist, sentimentalist; Randall, the idle rich diplomat; Hector, the romantic; all of them swirling around Hesione Hushabye who, like a siren of the seas, orchestrates their visit to the house.”
Punctuate this with the sweet Ellie Dunn, who seeks to survive in a world about to be destroyed by war, and with the captain, who drinks to be able to focus on his mission to blow up the world if humankind goes too far and to seek “life with a blessing.”
“Shaw called this his greatest play and weaves all of the philosophical concerns of society into a comedy with larger than life characters, interjecting comic lines in the midst of thought-provoking statements,” Bowlby says.
“He also wove in surrealism, originally using the title House in the Clouds, which explains the frequent falling asleep, trances, fantasy and the name Hushabye.”
Bowlby hopes audiences will enjoy this end-of-season fare, and enter into the swirl of thoughts and action at centre of this comedy. “I have enjoyed the challenge as have the cast and crew who worked very hard to bring it to fruition,” he says.
The stellar cast includes Aileen Brand, Peter Molnar, Elaine Holmes, Julia Body, Peter Buxton-Carr, Kenneth Fraser, Randy Brogden, Jade St. Onge, and Thom Wescott.
Heartbreak House previews Thursday, May 5, when tickets are $9 at the door, opening night is Friday, May 6 and includes a cash bar and complimentary appetizers after the show. Heartbreak House runs May 6 to 14. Showtime is 8 p.m., with a matinee at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 8, Two-for-one Tuesday is May 10.
