He And She (In Concert)
He and She
BackStage
Harry Forbes
November 21, 2005
Unless you were at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1980, when -- for a series of lesser-known American plays -- BAM unearthed Rachel Crothers' feminist He and She (one of the best of that season), you'll be surprised by its relevance in the Actors Company Theatre's excellent staged reading. Written in 1911, the groundbreaking play didn't actually reach Broadway until 1920.
Virtually all the characters engage in arguments about home versus career. Ann and Tom Herford (Angela Reed and Paul De Boy) are husband and wife artists. Tom is a shoo-in for a prestigious prize for a massive frieze he's just finished. He is supportive of Ann's artistic activities until circumstances compel her to enter her work in the same competition.
Tom's friend Keith (Greg McFadden) believes a woman's place is in the home and resents his fianc?e's (Rachel Fowler) career in publishing. Tom's dowdy sister (Eve Bianco) is a seemingly self-assured independent woman, but only because no one's asked her to marry (she secretly pines for Keith). Ann's father (James Murtaugh) and teenage daughter (Gloria Moore) clearly take the view that home and family come first.
As usual, TACT delivers a vital and engrossing production -- persuasively directed by Kyle Fabel -- that need make little apology for being a semistaged reading, especially when enhanced by Steven Cozzi's period costumes and Jonathan Faiman's live musical accompaniment. The cast is strong across the board, with Murtaugh providing some added piquancy with his tart witticisms.
Like the sharply divided critics in 1920, you may scratch your head about whether the play is "man bashing" or proves "a woman's place is in the home," as the ending is not quite the expected feminist affirmation. Still, the arguments put forth throughout are cogent and thought-provoking and, in the company's skillful hands, only occasionally strike our modern ears as na?ve and simplistic.