The Black Glass at the Hollywood Fringe and Heartbreak House at Theatricum Botanicum

Comments (0) By Steven Leigh Morris Thursday, Jun 28 2012

By the end of Heartbreak House, the bombs of the war are dropping while Shaw's quasi-Chekhovian characters sit around languorously, fearlessly, still making puns. It lends the impression that, in contrast to Chekhov's comedy of doom, Shaw anticipated the English muddling through on a blend of imperious wisecracks, self-deprecation and muted optimism.

And here we are, almost 100 years later, still trying on TV and in popular magazines to fathom the incomprehensible exigencies of love and marriage and life expedience, while the bombs of war keep dropping. Everything has changed, and nothing has changed.

PHOTO BY MIRIAM GEER

Mrs. Hushabye (Melora Marshall) greets her father, Captain Shotover (William Dennis Hunt), in Heartbreak House.

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Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum

1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd.
Topanga, CA 90290

Category: Community Venues

Region: Malibu

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Open Fist Theatre

6209 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038

Category: Community Venues

Region: Hollywood

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There's not a weak link in Ellen Geer's ensemble of 15. Willow Geer's Ellie transforms from pipe-voiced, broken-hearted wallflower to female dragoon with astonishing veracity. Aaron Hendry's Randall Utterword turns in a masterfully posturing turn, swooning for Mrs. Hushabye's cavalier and dismissive sister, Ariadne Utterword (Susan Angelo) — though she's married to his brother.

Leading the pack is Hushabye and Ariadne's octogenarian father, played by crusty William Dennis Hunt with a kind of brittle dogmatism that allows Shaw's wit to sparkle under this nighttime sky. Rarely will you find a performance of such nimble humor and gentle pathos, a Lear who's nobody's fool. Rarely will you see a production of such an intricate comedy of ideas rendered so clearly, and with such a clear purpose.

THE BLACK GLASS | By Guy Zimmerman | Padua Productions at Open Fist Theatre Company, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd. | closed.