The Philanderer

Synopsis

Modern, enlightened, man-about-town Leonard Charteris would love to marry exotic forward-thinking Grace Tranfield. However, his girlfriend, the dramatic Julia Craven, has a number of issues with this. Chiefly, she’s convinced she loves him and is determined to keep him at all cost. Set in the physical and intellectually-trendy 'Ibsen Club,' Charteris employs all his charm and wit not only to get round Grace’s father, but also to charm Julia’s eccentric family and the oddly determined Dr. Paramore as well.

Our Review:

23 July 2010

George Bernard Shaw liked his little jokes. Most of The Philanderer, his second play, written in 1893 but not performed until 1905, is set in the Ibsen Club, where men are not allowed to be manly, nor women womanly. The theatre at the end of the 19th-century was in the grip of Ibsen’s social dramas, and Shaw was poking fun at feminist drama as epitomised by A Doll’s House, whilst himself setting up a robust debate about the New Woman in society and the nature of love.

This production (directed by Bart Williams) is a spirited affair and a reminder that early Shaw could be much closer to farce than one imagines. Leonard Charteris, the self-confessed philanderer of the title, thinks himself in love with two women, the serene, free-thinking widow Grace Tranfield, and the irritatingly petulant Julia Craven. He seems perfectly happy to lose both of them, however, because the person he is really in love with is himself.

Othe...

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