Dare a man say it? Forget couples therapy? Forget marital counseling?
Yes, a man does.
That said, go to Tap. See G.B. Shaw’s “Candida.” It shows and tells all you know and ever wanted to know about what goes on between husbands and wives. Also, unlike searing psychiatric truth, it’s witty, funny, and a pleasure to take in.
Candida is a minister’s wife in Victorian England, St. Dominic’s Parsonage, 1894. With an open mind and heart, she welcomes a young poet into her happy home and is subsequently made to choose between him and her husband.
The choice she makes is probably predictable. But the reasons for it, you’ve got to be on the ball to see coming. Also, they are as relevant today as they were when Shaw dreamed them up a hundred years ago.
Lisa Peretti shines. From the pedestal her husband and suitor put her on, she enjoys herself, them, the attention. But when things go too far, she has no problem getting down off her high horse and straightening everybody out. If Peretti really does know men as well as Candida does, she is one spooky lady.
Terry Edward Moore puts up the perfect silly, self-deluded Reverend Morell in the beginning; but in the end, completes a fully developed male ego, replete with insecurities. Moore’s Morell is for real.
Kevin Brady as the poet, swoons, faints, cowers, waxes eloquent. Brady takes you in. There is no resisting him.
Rachel Hornor decorates this already brilliant comedy with the mousy, Reverend’s secretary. Hornor’s secretary after she’s had a champagne too many, turns a cliche into a highlight.
Nolan Palmer and Lathrop Walker round out the cast: Palmer as the working-class Cockney, Mr. Burgess; Lathrop as the starch-collared Reverend “Lexy.”
This is Shaw at his Shavian best directed by Cynthia White. If it is not a cure for what ails marriages, it should be. A relaxing, thought-provoking good time.
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