George Bernard Shaw’s 1903 classic “Man and Superman” is a weighty philosophical treatise disguised as a frothy rom-com.
The Irish Rep’s revival successfully has it both ways.
On the surface, it concerns the efforts of the free-spirited Ann (Janie Brookshire) to land the dashing Jack Tanner (Max Gordon Moore). Unfortunately, Jack, who also happens to be her guardian, has absolutely no interest in the bourgeois institution of marriage, one of the many radical positions expressed in his scandalous “Revolutionist’s Handbook.”
Figuring in this romantic roundelay are Jack’s friend Octavius (Will Bradley) who’s hopelessly in love with Ann, and her friend Violet (Margaret Loesser Robinson), who’s secretly married to a penniless American (Zachary Spicer).
The play is famous for its lengthy “Don Juan in Hell” dream sequence — a sendup of “Don Giovanni” that has the cad trading barbs with the devil, his ex-lover and her father, whom he killed in a duel. Thanks to some judicious pruning of that scene and others, this new production clocks in at three hours instead of nearly five.
Each act begins with a character reciting some aphorism or another from Jack’s handbook: “The lack of money is the root of all evil” and “Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get.”
It’s a pleasure to sit back and let Shaw’s witticisms sink in, especially when they’re delivered by such pros as Brian Murray (“The Crucible”), delightful as Ann’s old family friend who mightily disapproves of Jack’s newfangled notions.
Also terrific are Brian Sgambati as a chauffeur who observes the proceedings with bemusement, and Jonathan Hammond as a rakish Spaniard whom Jack encounters when he flees to the desert to escape Ann’s clutches.
Director David Staller, founder of the “Project Shaw” series, skillfully juggles all of the disparate elements. “Man and Superman” is a play of ideas, but here they go down nice and easy.