Review: Major Barbara

“Well, my dear, I am a millionaire. That is my religion.” A rags-to-riches father and his riches-to-religion daughter are at odds with each other over their philosophies of the world in George Bernard Shaw’s 1905 play, Major Barbara, which explores questions of poverty, capitalism, religion, morality, and power. This production, directed by David Staller, at times is a thicket of Shaw’s heady ideas (and a bit dreary) but the action picks up in Act Two and feels a lot lighter and clearer. Barbara (Hannah Cabell) finds her calling as a Major in the Salvation Army where she spends her days fighting for the souls of the common man. With Barbara’s engagement to a poor Greek scholar, Adolphus (Richard Gallagher), her mother (Carol Schultz) decides it is high time her long-absent, millionaire father, Andrew Undershaft (Dan Daily), be contacted so he can provide for his children’s future. Andrew made his fortune in munitions and his high-minded children are not pleased to be involved with this “immoral” man. Andrew visits Barbara’s “salvation factory” and she visits his “death and destruction factory” and the beliefs of the entire family are shaken by these encounters.