“Bolsheviks and Women”
The Mint Theatre, dedicated to the resuscitation of worthy
but forgotten or neglected plays, has come up with an unexpectedly interesting,
politically-based, British romantic dramedy from 1925. Despite its positive reception in London, actor-director-playwright (and social activist) Miles Malleson’s (The Mint's Yours Unfaithfully) play never made it to Broadway and is only now receiving its New York premiere.
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| Jessie Shelton, Henry Clarke. Photo: Todd Cerveris. |
The setup is a quite neat one: the woman between, as the
movie calls her, is Lady Dare Bellingdon (Jessie Shelton), the sheltered,
upper-class daughter of the wealthy Lord Bellingdon (Graeme Malcolm). Dare, a
fitting name for a flapper who flaunts contemporary morality, finds herself at
the center of a political and romantic conflict involving Major Sir Ronald
Clive, D.S.O. (Henry Clarke), called variously Clive or Ronnie, and Tom Smith
(Jeremy Beck).
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| Jessie Shelton, Henry Clarke. Photo: Todd Cerveris. |
Clive, a Conservative running for a seat in Parliament, and
Dare have been lovers and bed partners for a couple of years, although the
stuffy Bellingdon, a supporter of Clive, is unaware of the intimate part of
their relationship. Given Clive’s ambitions, of course, it might have
potentially scandalous overtones. Clive would like to get married but Dare isn’t
sure enough of her feelings to consider it.
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| Graeme Malcolm, Jeremy Beck, Henry Clarke. Photo: Todd Cerveris. |
The third leg of the triangle, Tom, once a respected
classmate of Clive’s at Cambridge, has been reduced to the status of a beggar
because of a series of personal misfortunes. Caught by Bellingdon and Clive
breaking into the former’s house in search of food, he embarrassedly explains
the reasons for his downfall. Before being forced to leave, he’s given food,
whiskey, and cash by the crabby but kind Bellingdon and the more sympathetic Clive.
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| Graeme Malcolm. Photo: Todd Cerveris. |
The sums they provide turn out to be more than the modestly
generous amount they admit to, and when we next hear from Tom he’s used the
money to turn his life around and is now running for Parliament as the Labour
Party candidate opposing his old chum Clive.
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| Janis Walker, Jessie Shelton. Photo: Todd Cerveris. |
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| Jessie Shelton, Janis Walker. Photo: Todd Cerveris. |
It’s quite fascinating, nearly 100 years after the play was
written, to hear 1925 characters talk about things like wealth distribution,
personal responsibility for one’s situation in life, the masses’ need for
proper housing and food, socialism’s alleged bias toward competition, the
danger of overturning long-established principles, and other issues that
continue to separate conservatives and progressives. At such moments, Conflict seems as if it were written
yesterday. Malleson clearly favors the leftist arguments but does his best to
keep the debate balanced
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| Jessie Shelton, Jeremy Beck, Graeme Malcolm. Photo: Todd Cerveris. |
Yes, there are mildly dated elements, like Clive’s chauvinistic
dismissal of Dare’s political interests, or Bellingdon’s dismay at learning
that his enlightened daughter may not be an exemplar of honor and purity: “I
liked it,” she boldly admits when her affair is revealed. But such behavior is
organic to the era and easy to appreciate within that context.
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| Graeme Malcolm, Jessie Shelton. Photo: Todd Cerveris. |
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| Jeremy Beck, Jessie Shelton. Photo: Todd Cerveris. |
In the script, Tom comes off as something of a firebrand; on
stage, Beck’s mousy rectitude suggests that he’s doused the flame for fear of singeing
his listener’s delicate ears. And with so little sexual chemistry bubbling, it’s
not easy to picture this couple getting beyond the simple kiss that climaxes
their encounter.
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| Jessie Shelton, Jeremy Beck. Photo: Todd Cerveris. |
Thompson’s physically attractive production is set in John
McDermott’s suitably posh drawing room, one half of which is efficiently
converted to and from a bed-sitting room when needed. Mary Louise Geiger lights
everything prettily and Martha Hally provides costumes that, while not always
precisely accurate for the men, very nicely capture the fashionable look of 1920s
hats, dresses, and gloves for the women.
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| Graeme Malcolm, Jeremy Beck, Henry Clarke. Photo: Todd Cerveris. |
The actors offer the equivalent of a quality stock company performance,
smooth and capable, but unexceptional, with varyingly acceptable or consistent
British accents. Still the performances are sufficient unto the purpose of
keeping us glued to the narrative and its ideas.
The lanky Malcolm’s imperious Bellingdon, equipped with John
Bolton’s mustache, is suitably bellicose yet parentally perplexed, while Clarke’s
impeccably well-groomed Clive embodies all those well-mannered, fluty British
gentlemen in 1930s films. Walker’s Mrs. Tremayne is satisfactory, Shelton shows
spirit and intelligence as the upstart daughter with an independent turn of
mind, but Beck, a Mint regular, lacks the charisma that Tom should radiate.
Conflict is a slightly
flawed gem but the theatre season glows more brightly for the Mint’s having dug
it up.
OTHER VIEWPOINTS:
Theatre Row/Beckett Theatre
410 W. 42nd St., NYC
Through July 21