UCI’s Version of Shaw’s ‘Superman’ Doesn’t Fly

George Bernard Shaw wanted “Man and Superman” to be staged in its entirety. But the master was no fool. Though he had written an epic comedy that ran to nearly five hours, he realized that even in the leisurely Edwardian Age, theatergoers worked and couldn’t get home too late.

So as early as 1905, two years after the complete four-act version of “Man and Superman” was published, Shaw himself approved what would become common theatrical practice: separating the operatic third act--”Don Juan in Hell,” which can stand alone as a more or less self-contained platform piece--from the stylish drawing-room comedy of the other three acts.

At the Irvine Barclay Theatre, where “Man and Superman” is being staged through Saturday by the UC Irvine drama department, the play has been rearranged and edited to give a comprehensive sense of the whole. The text shuttles between Mozartian parable about good and evil, God and the devil, life and death, and satirical romp full of plot twists and romantic complications illustrating the battle of the sexes and Shaw’s theory of the predatory Life Force.

The production begins on a delicious note in the middle of the third act, quickly establishing the ironies of tone and character that are typical of Shavian comedy. In this instance, the recently deceased Dona Ana, who describes herself as a devout “daughter of the church,” meets Don Juan and is shocked to learn that the strange place she’s been wandering in, lonely and lost, is hell.

How is that possible? she wants to know. “I have sincerely repented,” she says. “I have confessed.” Don Juan, who describes himself as a murderer, asks how much she has confessed. “More sins than I really committed,” she says. “I loved confession.” To which he replies, that is “perhaps as bad as confessing too little”--and, besides, “there are many good people in hell.”

When Dona Ana asks how she might correct what seems to her an obvious routing error, Don Juan tells her to speak to the devil, offending her further. She points out that she is not just anybody, after all, but a lady. “In hell,” he ripostes, “the devil is the leader of the best society.”

Don Juan informs her, moreover, that her lack of pain, which she takes for proof that she can’t be in hell, points to the very opposite: “Hell, Senora, is a place for the wicked. The wicked are quite comfortable in it. It was made for them. You tell me you feel no pain. I conclude you are one of those for whom hell exists.” Not being one of the wicked himself, Don Juan feels the deadly pain. Hell for him is the torture of boredom “beyond description, beyond belief.”

*

The production is physically attractive and well spoken but, unfortunately, drearily paced and not sufficiently well acted to keep the play from becoming dull. The leads know their lines but have a tendency to recite them. With everybody luxuriating in carefully shaped British accents, however nicely detailed and executed, this “Man and Superman” turns stiff and lackluster.

The overall effect is that of a costumed radio play. Though dressed to the nines, it is inert and oddly dislocated; and for all the youth of the performers, there is little spontaneity.

Damon Kupper does reasonably well as Don Juan, if only because his ringing delivery suits the stentorian grandiosity of the devil’s domain.

It is much more difficult to credit Kupper’s characterization of the rich, outspoken central figure in the drawing-room episodes: aristocratic man-about-town Jack Tanner, a free-thinking, marriage-fearing bachelor and radical pamphleteer whose superior intellect, dashing sophistication and sexual charm have aroused Ann Whitefield’s man-hunting instincts. Kupper plays Tanner like a somewhat precious, somewhat rambunctious fussbudget.

As Ann, the iron-willed innocent who inevitably gets her way, Susanna Morrow comes across with a relatively unforced vivacity that speaks well of her potential as an actress. But she could use more self-aware coquettishness to heighten the comic impact of the role. Doubling as the indignant Dona Ana, meanwhile, Morrow shows a certain histrionic self-possession that works better for that role.

Others in the cast lend variable skills, notably Frank Gallegos (as the personable devil and the hopelessly romantic brigand Mendoza), Chris Duval (as the stuffy Roebuck Ramsden and the vainglorious Commander), Michael Holmes (as Tanner’s cocky working-class chauffeur, Henry Straker), Laura Hartpence (as free-spirited Violet Robinson) and Daniel DeMarco (as Hector Malone Jr., the rebellious son of an American industrialist).

Perhaps the show will loosen up with further performances. If so, this “Man and Superman” has a chance of getting off the ground.

* “Man and Superman,” Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine, on the UCI campus. Thursday and Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m. Ends Saturday; $6-$15. (714) 854-4646. Running time: 3 hours, 5 minutes.

Damon Kupper: John Tanner/Don Juan

Susanna Morrow: Ann Whitefield/Dona Ana

Chris Duval: Roebuck Ramsden/The Commander

RJ Romero: The Devil Servant

Suzy Martin: The Maid

Jason Heil: Octavius Robinson

Anna Fitzwater: Miss Susan Ramsden

Laura Hartpence: Violet Robinson

Beth Robbins: Mrs. Whitefield

Michael Holmes: Henry Straker

Daniel DeMarco: Hector Malone Jr.

Frank Gallegos: Mendoza/The Devil

John Moreno: The Officer

David Anderson: Hector Malone Sr.

A Drama at UCI production of a play by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Keith Fowler. Edited and arranged by Fowler, Jason Heil and Michael Holmes. Scenic design: Snezana Petrovic. Costume design: Madeline Ann Kozlowski. Lighting design: Lesli Bjor. Vocal coach: Dudley Knight. Stage manager: Jacqueline M. Terba.