STUDY GUIDE
SEATTLE REPERTORY THEATRE 2 0 0 3 - 2 0 0 4
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he dawn of the 20th century in the country house of an English underwear tycoon, Mr. John Tarleton. His daughter, Hypatia, feels stuck in her comfortable-but-predictable upperclass family. Nothing interesting ever happens to her, and she’s bored to desperation by the incessant, numbing chatter of those around her. Her fiancé, Bentley, is hardly a catch, except he has an aristocratic background which makes him attractive to the family (less so to his bride-to-be). To complicate matters, Lord Summerhays, Hypatia’s would-be father-in-law, is also attracted to her (and even proposed to her before he realized she was betrothed to his son). Hypatia longs for new adventures to fall from the sky, and her wish comes true when an aeroplane crashes into the greenhouse and two surprise guests “drop in.” Misalliance is a clever, fast-moving, and thought-provoking play about class, gender, age, imperialism, and the human obsession with pairing up.
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“She’s not satisfied. Restless. Wants things to happen. Wants adventure to drop out of the sky.”
—Mr. Tarleton on his daughter, Hypatia Have land, need $$
The upper crust of English society at the time of this play was divided in two groups: those who were born rich and aristocratic (Lord Summerhays), and those whose business successes made them rich (Mr. Tarleton). Many landowners didn’t have to work. They could live off inheritances and the land their families had owned for generations. In the play, young Bentley has never had to work. His first work experience is at Tarleton’s Underwear, at the old man’s suggestion—sort of a test to see if Bentley is worthy of Hypatia’s hand in marriage. But, the upper class—sometimes referred to as the nobility—often needed to borrow money from wealthy entrepreneurs because they had land, but little cash at their disposal. Thus, marriages between these two groups were sometimes profitable for both parties: the merchant found access to high society, while the Lords and Ladies found access to cash.
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—
It’s all in the family
“We all have company manners and home manners. If you were to call on a strange family and listen through the keyhole—not that I would suggest for a moment that you are capable of doing such a very unladylike or ungentlemanlike thing; but still—if… you bring yourself to do it just for a few seconds to hear how a family speaks to one another when there is nobody else listening to them, and then walk into the room and hear how very differently they speak in your presence, the change would surprise you. Even when our home manners are as good as our company manners—and of course they ought to be much better—they are always different.” —George Bernard Shaw
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talk, talk, talk, talk.
The Edwardian Era
The Edwardian era is named for the English king of that period, King Edward VII, whose brief reign (1901-1910) preceded the modern House of Windsor in England. The “Edwardian” style broadly encompasses the years of 1901 through 1919. The Edwardian era was a historical moment of tremendous technological and social change. The wonders of the modern world, which had only sprang into being in the 1880s and 1890s, brought the first rewards of modern industrialization and mass-produced abundance. Perhaps the Edwardian era was best captured in the Titanic, the grand ocean liner which embodied the human progress, opulence, and excesses of the time. The Edwardian era is aptly remembered as the “Gilded Age.”
England and India
“I don’t want to be go od; and I don’t want to be bad : I just don’t want to be bothered about either good or bad: I want to be an active verb.” —Hypatia
In the play, Lord Summerhays has just returned from Jinghiskahn, a province of India, the crown jewel of the British Empire in 1909. Indians first rebelled against the British in 1857, but revolutionary activity was relatively quiet until 1905. At that time, young extremists launched terrorist attacks against the British, as well as those Indians who were helping the British, and boycotted British goods in favor of domestic products. In 1909, Britain responded with reforms to increase Indian participation in government.
“I am always writing a new play: it is my profession. It is not ‘about’ anything. A play is a play: it is not something about something else.” —George Bernard Shaw
Name-calling
Following are some of the insults and terms of endearment that are bantered about in the play.
•
Turnspit: An unskilled laborer who turns the roasting spit in the kitchen.
• Humbug: A fraud. • Chickabiddy: A term of endearment (literally means chicken). • Freethinker: One who refuses to submit his reason to the control of authority in matters of religious belief. • “have a slate off”—to be eccentric (literally meaning to have a crooked roof). • Panjandrum: a person who can repeat anything after hearing it once; a pompous pretender. • Calumny: dishonest or deceptive statements meant to damage someone’s reputation. • Chump: a blockhead (literally the blunt end of a log).
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Fly away
The airplane (or aeroplane as it is referred to in the play) was a brand new invention when Misalliance was written. The Wright Brothers had their historic flight at Kitty Hawk only six years earlier. George Bernard Shaw had been in the air at least once by 1909—in a hot air balloon piloted by a man named Percival Spencer. The balloon crashlanded, leaving Shaw unharmed and with a growing enthusiasm for flight. He joined London’s Aeronautical Society in the same year he wrote Misalliance.
That’s my life.”
—Hypatia
“Turkish baths are the latest.”
“Unsuitable marriages, unhappy homes, ugly children are terribly common, because the young woman who ought to have all the unmarried young men in the country open to her choice, with dozens of strings to her bow in the event of her first choice not feeling a reciprocal attraction, finds that in fact she has to choose between two or three in her own class, and has to allow herself to be much petted and tempted by physical endearments, or made desperate by neglect, before she can persuade herself that she really loves the one she dislikes the least.” —George Bernard Shaw
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—Mrs. Tarleton
Cast of characters*
*Descriptions in quotations are taken from Shaw’s stage directions.
The Tarleton Family
• Mr. John Tarleton is an “immense and genial veteran of trade” whose business, Tarleton’s Underwear, has made him quite wealthy. He is the father of Hypatia and Johnny. • Mrs. Tarleton, John’s wife, is “a shrewd and motherly old lady who has been pretty in her time, and is still very pleasant and likeable and unaffected.” • Johnny Tarleton, their son, is “an ordinary young business man of thirty or less, taking his weekly Friday to Tuesday [weekend] at his father’s country house.” • Hypatia Tarleton is “a typical English girl of a sort never called typical: that is, she has an opaque white skin, black hair, large dark eyes with black brows and lashes, curved lips, swift glances and movements that flash out of a waiting stillness, boundless energy and audacity held in leash.” She is engaged to Bentley Summerhays.
The Invited Guests
• Lord Summerhays was for 25 years administrator in Jinghiskahn, India. He says of his son: “I know of only one person alive who could drive me to the point of having to either break china or commit murder; and that person is my son Bentley.” • Bentley Summerhays (Bunny) is “one of those smallish, thin-skinned youths, who from 17 to 70 retain unaltered the mental airs of the later and the physical appearance of the earlier years.”
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About the playwright
George Bernard Shaw was born on July 26, 1856 in Dublin, Ireland. He always hated the name George and preferred to be known as “Bernard Shaw” or just GBS. Shaw filled his life with a variety of careers and philosophical leanings. He was a novelist, critic, playwright, essayist, economist, socialist, vegetarian, teetotaler (he didn’t drink alcohol of any kind), non-smoker, and self-styled “Champion of Reason.”
“[Shaw is] an excellent man; he has no enemies; and none of his friends like him.” —Oscar Wilde, letter to Shaw, Sept. 25, 1896
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John Tarleton’s Reading List
Throughout the play, John Tarleton exhorts others to learn lessons from literature. Tarleton believes in reading—he donates some of his profits to establish free libraries to encourage more people to read. Here are a few of the literary references he makes.
“If you want to understand old age scientifically, read Darwin and Weismann. Of course, if you want to understand about it romantically, read about Solomon.” On the Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin (1809-1882) remains one of the most influential books ever published. Darwin’s ideas were embraced enthusiastically by the German biologist August Weismann (1834-1914), one of the founders of the modern science of genetics. Darwin also wrote about the female selection of appropriate mates—a favorite theme of Shaw’s. The harem of King Solomon, who ruled the ancient Hebrews in the 10th century BC, reportedly numbered 700 wives and 300 concubines. “Beef be blowed! Joy of life. Read Ibsen.” “Joy of life” is a key concept in Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), a play that was an icon of the new European drama to which Shaw began contributing in the 1890s. Later in Misalliance, Tarleton mentions Ibsen’s play The Master Builder, in which a celebrated architect becomes fascinated by a much younger woman. “Still, you know, the superman may come. The superman’s an idea. I believe in ideas. Read Whats-his-name.” In his prophetic narrative Thus Spake Zarathustra, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (18441900) encouraged individuals in “self-overcoming” to transform themselves and rise above their fellow beings. This concept became central to Shaw’s self-made religion of “creative evolution,” and is featured prominently in his play Man and Superman—though here Tarleton can’t remember who wrote it!
eated and exaggerated “I have carefully cherished, rep unced. I have again every feature that the critics deno serving all the unities— gone back to the classic form, pre of scene, no silly plot, no division into acts, no change l action.” not a scrap of what the critics cal —George Bernard Shaw
“Prometheus was chained to his rock: read Shelley: read Mrs. Browning.” In Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind. As punishment for this crime, the gods chained him to a rock. Two of the most famous treatments of the myth in English literature were published in the nineteenth century: a translation of Aeschylus’ play Prometheus Bound by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) and an allegorical verse drama entitled Prometheus Unbound by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822). “I’ve a superabundance of vitality. Read Pepys’ diary.” The diary of Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) is one of history’s most vivid depictions of the social life of 17th-century London. Written in shorthand and not intended for publication, the diary describes in vivid detail not only the grand events of the 1660s but also Pepys’ own weaknesses and infidelities. “Good. Read Shakespeare: he has a word for every occasion.” Tarleton recognizes a line that Gunner quotes from Hamlet (“Look here upon this picture, and on this”). Tarleton certainly knows his Shakespeare—as did GBS, another self-educated man and omnivorous reader!
FUNDERS:
Thanks to all of Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Education Sponsors: The Allen Foundation for the Arts*, William Randolph Hearst Endowment for Education Programs*, The Peter Donnelly Fund*, Washington State Arts Commission, Harvest Foundation, Washington Mutual, Cultural Development Authority of King County, Chisholm Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, KeyBank, Seattle Foundation/5th Avenue Theatre Education Fund, US Bancorp Foundation, ArtsFund including support from ArtsFund’s Wells Fargo Cultural Education Excellence Fund and its WAMU Cultural Education Teacher Training Excellence Fund, QFC, Fales Foundation Trust, Adobe Systems, Inc., Simpson Fund, E.K. & Lillian F. Bishop Foundation, Target Stores, Bernstein Investment Research & Management, Commerce Bank of Washington, and McKinstry Company.
TTITLE SPONSORS:
TPRODUCING PARTNERS:
This study guide was written by Andrea Allen, with additional support from Daniel Ennis and Christine Sumption, and designed by Catherine Conoley. Printed by Star Printing.
National Corporate Theatre Fund • Chateau Ste. Michelle Alaska Airlines
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