Playwright: Mark Saltzman. At: MadKap Productions at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. Tickets: 773-404-7336; www.greenhousetheater.org; $20-$30 . Runs through: Feb. 16
Imagine a Nobel-winning English playwright, on an extended vacation with his wife, who visits a factory in the U.S. motion-picture industry, where his presence is viewed by his hosts as an opportunity to secure film rights to one of his plays. What makes this premise even more intriguing is that it actually happened. On March 29, 1933, George Bernard Shaw and Charlotte Townshend Shaw were given a tour of the MGM studios by Louis B. Mayer, with lunch provided by popular ingenue Marion Davies, attended by silver-screen headliners Clark Gable and John Barrymore, along with newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst.
For author Mark Saltzman, it all started with a single photograph, snapped at the fateful meal, leading him to research the surrounding events, beginning with the Shaws' flight to Los Angeles making an emergency landing in Malibu, forcing the tourists to solicit a ride to their destination in a roadster piloted by an irreverent UCLA student. Also documented is the misguided luncheon menu planned for the vegetarian guest of honor, the rivalries between film companies and the risks engendered by their employees' peccadilloes. Shaw himself contributes to the clash of cultures, candidly disapproving Barrymore's edited Hamlet and inadvertently distressing an actress with an ill-conceived joke.
Saltzman's affection for a Tinseltown not yet as cynical as today is evident in the conversations, however speculative, he constructs for his characters: Charlotte Shaw's gracious composure—during tete-a-tetes with Davies, and later, Barrymore, over teacups of bootleg whiskey—provides a welcome contrast to her husband's acerbic wit. Indeed, the Shaws' innate reticence often serves to expose not just the professional, but the personal, agendas of their insecure Yankee admirers. ( Barrymore misses the stage, Davies wants artistic recognition, Hearst tries to buy it for her, Gable wants to keep his job while dogging around. Even the houseboy asks for time off to audition for bit roles, and the sentry at the studio gate flogs a screenplay. )
MadKap Productions likewise resists the temptation to play this material as flat-out farce, instead adopting, under John Nasca's direction, a light touch not unlike the movies of the period under scrutiny. Bill Chamberlain and Anita Kallen anchor the sturdy ensemble in the roles of Mr. and Mrs. Shaw, while Cat Hermes lends a rare poignancy to her portrayal of the unappreciated Davies—all adding up to plenty of nostalgic insider fun for those recalling when Hollywood was a workplace instead of a fantasyland.
