Reviews

FORT WORTH – George Bernard Shaw's century-old classic Major Barbara is full of complex, often contradictory ideas about war, religion, class and human nature. Talky and intense, it's a lot for an audience to process as Shaw's devastatingly witty dialogue flies around the theater.

WILLIAM DESHAZER/DMN

Ash Smith, Dana Schultes and Jim Covault star in Stage West's compelling and witty production of George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara.

That makes Stage West's new production of this so-called "discussion" play all the more impressive. Especially in the first and second acts, director Jerry Russell and his top-notch cast animate the sticky language as if it were written yesterday.

Ash Smith gives the most consistently compelling performance, as the smart-alecky yet sincere Greek professor courting the title character, but he gets a lot of competition.

The play concerns an aristocratic family with money woes. Lady Britomart Undershaft (Nancy Sherrard) is trying to figure out how to keep her daughters (Dana Schultes and Allison Pistorius) in their proper station as they prepare to marry men who can't support them in such a manner.

The answer lies in her ex-husband, the rich-beyond-belief "death-and-destruction dealer" Andrew Undershaft (Jim Covault), who has his own problem. He needs to find a successor to take over his munitions company, but in the tradition of the Undershafts it can't be an heir such as his son, Stephen (Stephen Levall).

Hilarity, and hypocrisy, ensue.

Major Barbara has fallen for the Salvation Army, leading to a contest between her and her father over what constitutes morality and what the little people really want and need. The paradoxes pile up, and conventional wisdom about right and wrong, particularly in our politically correct age, takes a head-spinning beating.

Ms. Schultes brings a steely compassion to her role, and makes a beautifully believable emotional turn when Major Barbara realizes the flaws in her beliefs. Her father, meanwhile, is the one character who never waivers, and Mr. Covault plays him as a sea of calm. He's soft-spoken and dry, with just the slightest quiver in his voice, creating an appropriate mystery about his motives.

On opening night Saturday, Mr. Covault faltered in the third act's climactic scene, tripping over the most tongue-twisting speech in the play.

Ms. Sherrard as the self-interested, passive-aggressive matriarch and David Fluitt as Sarah Undershaft's doltish fiancé, lacking any self-awareness, provide much-needed comic relief under the sure hand of Mr. Russell.

Was Shaw a misanthrope, or was he a lover of humanity, trying to explain us to ourselves? Stage West puts all the evidence onstage, and leaves it up to us to decide.

Manuel Mendoza is a Dallas freelance writer.

• Major Barbara continues through April 13 at Stage West, 821 W. Vickery, Fort Worth. $24 to $28, with discounts for students and seniors. 817-784-9378, www.stagewest.org.

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