Ex's Shaw is More than Mere Fluff

While Marshmallow Fluff has been used for a multitude of purposes, this week likely marks the first time it will be featured in a romance scene between a dentist and a blossoming liberal feminist.

The decision of director Mary E. Birnbaum ’07 to use Fluff epitomizes the lighthearted mood of her upcoming production of George Bernard Shaw’s play “You Never Can Tell.” The play, which runs from Nov. 10-18 at the Loeb Experimental Theatre—and is often called the pleasantest of Shaw’s volume of “Plays Pleasant”—centers on the return of a mother and her three children to their homeland, after having left 18 years earlier because of the mother’s desire to avoid her husband.

Their return is prompted by the mother’s desire for her eldest daughter to follow in her footsteps and become the next free radical feminist thinker. However, her plans become complicated when a dentist falls in love with the daughter and the dentist’s landlord happens to be the childrens’ father.

“The exposure to the most influential British playwright of the 20th century is an opportunity you can’t miss. Shaw in performance is a really special treat and we’ve made it 10 times more fun than it is just on the page,” Birnbaum says.

Though “You Never Can Tell” was originally set in the 1890s, Birnhaum’s version is loosely set in the 1920s, a change which adds to the whimsical atmosphere that encompasses the play and is embodied in everything from big band swing music to the Chinese lanterns that hang all over the set.

“We decided that it’s set in the 1920s of your imagination. The costume ideas came from the beachside setting so they’re all very light and in bright colors,” Costume Designer Sabrina Chou ’09 says.

Birnbaum decided on Shaw’s play after seeing two different productions of it and realizing that the themes were very applicable to the lives of college students.

“At the end, the daughter is forced to make a decision between old ideals and embracing something new. As college students we face similar situations in choosing to reformulate our relationships with family. The play is about separation and maturity, family and love, and what your identity becomes when you’re torn between two worlds,” Birnbaum says.

Birnbaum also saw Harvard as the perfect place to direct a Shaw play because of the intelligence of the actors.

“It’s a very rich source of material for college students to work with because the actors can parse the words of the line. I figured the actors here are so smart and phenomenally capable, why not do heightened text?” Birnbaum says.

One such actress is Alison H. Rich ’09, who plays the role of Dolly, one of the daughters.

“Mary was really serious about putting out a good show and had us rehearse from the earliest possible date so we had lots of time to refine everything. There are larger than life sort of characters and a great cast of a lot of great new freshman that haven’t been seen before at Harvard,” Rich says.

Students will have an opportunity to experience the atmosphere of the play even before it debuts during a whipped cream fight on Wednesday at 11:50 a.m. outside of the Science Center that Birnbaum hopes will help to encourage students to see the play.

“[The play] is a hilarious good time with lots of energy and you’re just going to leave having had a fun time,” Rich says.