Heartbreak House at Main Street Theater

September, 1914. The topsy-turvy household of Captain Shotover and his daughter Hesione Hushabye entertains weekend guests: Ellie Dunn, her father, and her fiancé. Unfortunately, Ellie’s fiancé is a scoundrel, her father is a bumbling prig, and she’s actually in love with Hesione’s husband Hector. This bold mix of farce and tragedy lampoons British society as it blithely ignores the catastrophe looming on the horizon that will become the War to End All Wars. “With the world seemingly on endless edge these days, and with plenty of Americans feeling disengaged from the circus of our cultural and political discourse, Shaw’s bracing analysis of a civilization in decline seems more valuable than ever,” wrote Charles Isherwood in 2006 of the Roundabout Theater Company’s production. And being Shaw, of course sprinkled atop that bracing analysis is wit and humor – and sparkling Shavian language.
Ages: Recommended for audiences 13 and up. Children under the age of 5 are not allowed in the theater.