Youth is Wasted on the Young

Youth is Wasted on the Young . . . George Bernard Shaw

The prolific playwright, critic, novelist and essayist, George Bernard Shaw is featured with the current production of the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s British Invasion.  Candida, one of Shaw’s earlier works and part of the trilogy penned under Plays Pleasant,  is a study in human relationship’s: husband/wife, employer/employee, poet/enabling wannabe (to the poet) paramour, father –in-law/son-in-law.  Shaw weaves the playful rhythm, tone and wit of language bred from his native Ireland.  Humor is frequent and the audience appreciates the well-phrased and delivered commentary of the then-current societal mores.  While some elements of the conversations appear dated (the use of cant, for example, was last heard in a long ago class on literature) , the majority of the dialogue transcends time, as appropriate in Victorian England as it is in the 21^st Century Pittsburgh.

In Candida, the audience is treated to a preview of the characters that will be arguably Shaw’s most recognizable players from Pygmalion/My Fair Lady.  The dissolute Eugene Marchbanks (Jared McGuire)  is a precursor (at least to this viewer) of Freddie Aynsford-Hill;  Candida’s father,  Mr. Burgess (John O’Creagh) is reminiscent of Alfred P. Doolittle, the common dustman with his broad cockney accent juxtaposed with the costume finery of a gentleman after he is thrust directly into middle class morality by Henry Higgins’ recommendation, getting to the church on time.  The audience is reminded that in Shaw, one finds a Nobel Prize winner and an Oscar winner, an unlikely and unique combination of tributes held solely by him.

Gretchen Egolf as Candida and David Whalen as Vicar Morell (Photo Credit: Pittsburgh Public Theater)

Candida (Gretchen Egolf), the namesake of the work, is a beautiful woman who is coveted by both her husband, The Reverend James Mavor Morell (David Whalen) and Eugene, the young poet who is clearly enamored with her.  Candida appears to be initially oblivious of being the object of Marchbanks’ attentions, almost like a cat playing with a mouse.  Later, we realize she is much more self and situationally aware. 

Gretchen Egolf as Candida and Jared McGuire as Eugene Marchbanks (Photo Credit:  Pittsburgh Public Theater)

Her husband, also initially oblivious, is astounded when his wife demonstrates an insight on his relationship with his trusted assistant and the reason for his popularity as a much sought after orator.  The cast is rounded out by Meghan Mae O’Neill playing the long suffering Miss Proserpine (Prossie) Garnett and Matthew Minor as The Reverend Alexander Mill, assistant to Vicar Morrell.

The play is set in Victoria Park on the outskirts of London at the turn of the 20^th century spanning a single day in the study and sitting room of St. Dominic’s Vicarage.

Candida is directed by the venerable Ted Pappas and continues at the O’Reilly Theater through May 18^th.

This  review of Candida was written by Joyce Kane on behalf of Positively Pittsburgh Live Magazine and Roving Pittsburgher.  Joyce is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Assistant service company providing on demand business support services for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and anyone else needing help.  We help businesses work on their business rather than in their business.  www.cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Our Town: Comfort Food for the Soul

Our Town:  Comfort Food for the Soul

The 2013 Pittsburgh Public Theater’s production of Our Town (September 26 through October 27, 2013) is a transport back to simpler times when homemade cookies and milk freshly delivered by the dairy farmer characterized daily life.

PPT’s production of this venerable play penned by Thornton Wilder opens with “Stage Manager”, ably played by veteran Pittsburgher Tom Atkins (“The Chief") verbally  painting the picture of 1901 Grover’s Corners, NH.   The physical attributes of the small town, with its layout, descriptions of the movers and shakers, and the various homey details that characterized early 20th Century life in New England come to life for the audience despite the minimal set.  Grover’s Corners is portrayed as a quaint and charming mix of rural and city.   The town doctor is off delivering twins in “Polish Town”.  His wife, Mrs. Gibbs, and the neighbor’s wife, Mrs. Webb, have mirror gardens, with Mrs. Webb adding a soupcon of individuality with towering sunflowers to the mix of beans and heliotrope.  The daily chores of early morning breakfast preparation and getting the children off to school, not too dissimilar to modern families, lend familiarity that transcends time.

As the play progresses, we see other hints of the familiar…the classroom crush, the adulation of a sports figure, respect and concern for the hardworking neighbors.  These all serve as an escape, a salve for the over-stressed and over-connected audience who is seeking a respite from their everyday lives with the continuous avalanche of bad news.  Yes, there is bad news in Grover’s Corners, but perhaps the pace is more acceptable, the volume of negativity more absorbable.

The rhythms of life – birth, marriage, death – are set with minimal distractions.  The costuming is bland so as not to stand out.  The few chairs, tables, ladders that represent the staging are effective if nonintrusive.  Even the pantomime of meal preparation, carrying books and leading the horse delivering the milk wagon through the town are evocative without being overly trite.  Preparation of the strawberry sodas at the drug store/apothecary produced a chuckle of memory from many in the audience – helped along by Atkins’ mobile expressions.

Our Town’s ensemble cast, liberally full of Gibbs’, Webb’s, other small town characters and ‘citizens’, weave Wilder’s words to create the meatloaf and mashed potatoes of small town country living that gives comfort without being sappy  . . . comfort food for the soul.  

Reviewed by Joyce Kane on behalf of Positively Pittsburgh Live! Magazine.

Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh