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Scathing peek into bourgeois ‘cocoon’
HEARTBREAK HOUSE
Pentameters
"IS this England or a mad house?”
A sentiment shared by all crammed on to the last train before the 48-hour Tube strike.
With this in mind, George Bernard Shaw’s play Heartbreak House, directed by Harry Meacher, about a fragile country on the brink of change and the capacity of politicians and “big business” to govern England with integrity seems fitting.
The action takes place at the home of the eccentric Captain Shotover (Bryan Hands) visited by a young pragmatic woman, Ellie Dunn (Georgia Cardy), who causes a stir with her decision to marry for money, a choice the Captain’s forthright daughter Hesione Hushabye (Judi Bowker) is vehemently opposed to.
Opinion on the matter divides and a lively argument about money and morality, idealism and realism ensues as Hesione’s rakish husband, Hector Hushabye (Harry Meacher), snobbish sister, Lady Utterword (Chloe Harbour) and Ellie’s fiancé, Boss Mangan (Roger Sanson) join the debate.
The simmering tensions between the “bohemians” and the “capitalists” are electric with Judi Bowker’s bewitching Hesione and Harry Meacher’s enticingly charming Hector played to perfection, overshadowed only when the fabulously comic Captain Shotover enters.
This play is rarely staged and understandably so, as it can be overly complex and the constant influx of characters and ideas can be overpowering.
However, Shaw’s wit and cynical humour, drawn out brilliantly by Meacher, lighten the play and the excellent cast brings it to life, exuding an energy that keeps you captivated throughout.
Shaw creates a dubious society with no good or bad characters; all are morally questionable, at times ridiculous and cocooned in their own world while bombs, quite literally, fall around them.
Given the recent success of the BNP in the European elections Shaw’s warning of the dangers brought around by an apathetic society resonates as strongly today as it did then.
Until June 27
020 7435 3648 |
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