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This review by Simon Saltzman was published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on
August 25, 1999. All rights reserved.
Review: `Dear Liar’
Apparently George Bernard Shaw was as prolific a letter
writer as he was a critic, author, and journalist. His more romantic
side blossomed conspicuously in his voluminous correspondence with
the equally droll and witty Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the noted diva
who had her greatest professional triumph as Eliza in
"Pygmalion"
— the play Shaw wrote for her.
In "Dear Liar," by Jerome Kilty, Shaw and Campbell each occupy
their own respective spaces in a Victorian drawing room (handsomely
designed by David Raphel), and either read or soliloquize the text
of their admonishing and adoring epistles. With Tony nominee Marian
Seldes ("Ring Round the Moon") as Campbell, and the fine Irish
character actor, Donel Donnelly, as Shaw, the readings resonate with
humor and drama. Whether or not these two actors approximate the
delight
created when Katherine Cornell and Brian Aherne originated the roles
on Broadway in 1958 is not nearly as important as the sheer joy of
the current occasion at the Irish Repertory Theater.
I can’t vouch that the real Mrs. Campbell was as much fun to watch
as Seldes. However, the irresistibly theatrical Seldes is an actress
who lets neither a word nor a silence escape her dramatic inspection.
This is not to imply that Seldes lacks finesse and subtlety, only
that you will not want to take your eyes off her for one second, lest
you miss the nuance of a lifetime. The sheer bravura of Seldes’
presence
might intimidate an actor less in control of his character than
Donnelly,
who, nevertheless, holds his own by means of his own calculating
wiles.
The playful and adoring declarations and the willful venom that
punctuated
the pair’s long standing but non-sexual relationship make for
consistently
amusing listening. They take us from Mrs. Campbell’s early
turn-of-the-century
stage triumphs to her failure to succeed in the Hollywood of the
1930s.
Humor is abundant, but never more so than in the scene that has
Seldes,
as the middle-aged Mrs. Campbell, overdoing Eliza’s cockney accent
in a rehearsal of "Pygmalion." If one might complain that
Donnelly spends too much time confined to his writing desk by director
Charlotte Moore, there is no stopping Seldes, as she floods the room
with a radiance that is already legendary in its own right.
HHH
— Simon Saltzman
6th & 7th Avenue, 212-727-2737. $30 & $35. To September 19.
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