Misalliance Book

Read this before seeing The Orange Tree Theatre's production. If I had read it afterward, it might have got a fourth star! The cast and direction were superb and really brought Shaw's lopsided and over-wordy contraption to life. Good things here: he plays quite radically with gender roles and assumptions; the play's major theme is feminist (there's a brilliant and fiery last speech by Lina the Polish aviator, Mrs Pankhurst could hardly have done better) - and socialism vegetarianism and teetotalism get a look in too (paring back on the ideas and debate might have helped the drama). But in a good performance, this was charming and funny, and felt relevant.