Playwright: J.M. Barrie
At: ShawChicago at Chicago Cultural Center,
77 E. Randolph
Phone: 312-742-8497; $15
Through May 3
Photo by Peter Coombs
Little-known comic drama What Every Woman Knows would probably be produced more often if it wasn't for one thing: the thick Scottish accents.
One of the hardest dialects for actors to replicate is also one that American ears aren't typically accustomed to hearing. After a ShawChicago performance, one elderly woman said, 'I think I missed about 30 percent of what they said.'
'Tis a pity, since this 1908 play by Scotsman J.M. Barrie is cute historical curiosity. The creator of Peter Pan not only had a soft spot for kids, but he clearly supported women's suffrage in What Every Woman Knows.
The play's set-up is silly. A 27-year-old 'spinster' named Maggie Wiley ( Barbara Zahora ) gets unconventionally betrothed by her nouveau riche Scottish family. Her fiance is an educationally aspirant train ticket-taker named John Shand ( Christian Gray ) who gets cornered into the marriage deal when he is caught burgling the family to borrow books from their enormous bookcase ( which they own just for show ) .
From there, Barrie builds up John into a practical financial and political dynamo who gets into Parliament. Although Maggie knows their marriage isn't based on love, she does everything she can behind the scenes to support John's career, both politically with bigwigs like Charles Venables ( Tony Dobrowolski ) and in society among the likes of the crafty visiting French Comtesse de la Briere ( Kate Young ) .
So when John falls in love with Lady Sybil Tenterden ( Lili-Anne Brown ) , Maggie hatches a scheme to show how valuable she truly is to him.
The play is slavish to the cliché 'Behind every great man, there is a great woman.' But since Barrie includes the women's vote debate, the play is politically a piece of feminist theater, however dated.
ShawChicago's concert staging with scripts in hands and music stands is a low-frills affair ( Joseph Bowen fills in details by reading wordy stage directions ) . But ShawChicago more than makes up for the austere with Robert Scogin's solid direction and strong performances from its all-Equity cast.
Though Maggie is the true heroine of the play, the character's sensible nature makes Zahora rightfully hold back in showing heart-wrenching emotion. Surprisingly, Gray offers up the emotional waterworks, especially when John realizes what is to be lost at his indiscretion.
In the supporting cast, Young is particularly delectable as the knowing French grand dame. Brown could work on her haughty accent, but she otherwise acts a fine 'other woman.'
And as for those difficult Scottish accents, Michael McAlister, Nathan Hosner, Joe Lehman and Zahora each succeed so well as the Wiley family that you really have to listen to catch everything they say. In the case of What Every Woman Knows, paying attention offers pleasant rewards.
