Walking out of the premiere performance of the University of Alabama’s production of  Major Barbara I was left wondering a few things…

   1) Why was that play an hour and fifteen minutes for each act?
   2) Why this play? and
   3) How many times did each character monologue one right after the other?
 
            The truth be told, that as an artist, I appreciated the effort that was put forth by all involved. Knowing that it takes a hell of an actor or actress to memorize such difficult language, as George Bernard Shaw's plays usually contain, and it being over two and a half hours in length, I will give credit where credit's due, starting with Alicia Grubb as Lady Britomart. She plays the perfect mother who is concerned in her children’s well-being and hoping to scrape out something for herself by suiting them all with the things, and people, she feels appropriate. Her son, Stephen Undershaft (played by Jason Keef), is the impeccably whiney, and at the beginning reluctant, heir to their manipulative father's weaponry manufacturing fortune.
      Steve Ray portrays the perfectly sly character of their father, Andrew Undershaft. He is joined in his plays of deception with Adolphus Cusins (Thomas Azar), who is torn between what he ultimately wants, and what his fiancée Barbara, played by Sonequa Martin, ultimately wants. The biggest trait this family seems to have passed along is the ability to manipulate the thoughts, wants, and ideas of others for their own personal gain and/or satisfaction. Barbara is shown as a Major in the salvation army and is saving people by converting the poor and hungry to Christianity. But after the Army, rather low on funds, takes a large check from a Whiskey Manufacturer, and then another from her father the weapon manufacturer, she leaves the army stating that they have gone against everything they believe in by taking money from drunkards and criminals of war. The rest of the show is finished by her father and fiance trying to convince her of what she wants for her future, and whether or not she wants to be connected with the one thing she has outspokenly been against throughout the play, her father's company.
      Overall, the acting was amazing by all of the characters. The sets, lights, sound, choreography and costumes were all appropriate, but the play by itself just leaves you with an overall feeling of perplexity, wondering why certain actions were chose and mixed feelings about who finally wins the Barbara tug-of-war. This is definitely not a performance to bring small children to as they will have much difficulty understanding the language and more than likely not want to sit through something so long. But if you wish to attempt to understand the good-natured Barbara's decisions, and the sly actions of the men who love her, then I encourage you to see this production. One thing was palpably clear, Alabama does even the most difficult of shows right. Roll tide, roll.