Theater Preview: Heartbreak House at the Charity Randall

By George Bernard Shaw
June 2–25, 2005
Charity Randall Theatre, Oakland
A fantasia in the Russian manner on English themes.

The most powerful dynamics that the theatre can present.This season, PICT harnesses the opposing forces of comedy and villainy to explore the absolute limits of character. Join us for six taut confrontations, including three premieres, at the frontier between darkness and light.

Directed by Gregory Lehane. Starring Helena Ruoti, Laurie Klatscher, and Larry John Meyers.

Love versus Money. Witty, grand, and prodigiously wise, Shaw’s masterpiece has everything: young love, hypnotism, loud explosions, philandering, burglary, and music. Into the eccentric household of Captain Shotover and his daughter Hesione comes Ellie Dunn, a young woman ready to marry for money rather than love. Should financial concerns take priority over romantic ones, or should we hold on to our ideals, regardless of the consequences?

“Heartbreak House was far too lazy and shallow to extricate itself from this palace of evil enchantment. It rhapsodized about love; but it believed in cruelty.”

The Lowdown:
Visit the PICT Theater website for tickets and showtimes.