Major Barbara, the first production of the semester for the Allen Bales Theater, performed from February 7-12, 2006. Because it runs close to three hours, be sure to block out an entire evening for this production. One hour into the play, the audience became restlessly awaiting intermission. Plenty events happened in the plot, but the inner drive of the plot was a little slow. Once the second half began, a full theater had been reduced fifteen seats. For those remaining, the second half proved to be uneventful. Instead of summarizing the issues and creating a resolution to the story line, two main characters found themselves in a philosophical debate. Unless one is fascinated with philosophy, it becomes difficult to follow. The speech sounded scripted, unlike colloquial early twentieth century English, making it difficult for audience members to understand the story line.
            To understand this play, one must suspend disbelief of the time period. Although the costuming is current with the early twentieth century, the set design is an abstract and functional depiction of a machine. It breaks the set into two different areas: front set with dialogue bearing characters, and the area within the “machine” purely for background scenery. Interestingly, a few actors remained still within this background, and actually became part of the set. Taking place in London, the actors had to speak with a clear English accent. It seemed as if a few actors had trouble keeping their accents consistent. However, Steve Ray, who played Andrew Undershaft, maintained his accent and composure the entire production. He became the role, and the audience forgot that he actually wasn’t an English businessman. Alicia Grub, Lady Britomart, and Jason Keef, Stephen Undershaft, the mother and son of the play, gave comedic chemistry to the production. Even though Grub acted overdramatically, her character's sole purpose was comic relief. Martin's overacting wasn't quite as effective as Grubb's, but worked nonetheless. However, during the Thursday night performance, Martin became ill, and was replaced by Kelly Ann Shambueger, the Assistant Stage Manager. Unfortunately, the Director chose to lack an understudy for Martin’s role, so Shamburger performed dressed completely in black and reading from the script. Her last minute performance was commendable, but next time it would be nice if the audience was informed of, not forced to infer, replacements.