MAJOR BARBARA – REVIEW OF 2025 SHAW FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake may bear Bernard Shaw’s name but out of the dozen productions this season including the two Holiday offerings only one play is by him. And even that is staged in the small Royal George Theatre which will close for demolition at the end of this year. This is the seventh time that Major Barbara is produced at the Shaw Festival and most of the previous ones (except the 2013 productions) were at the Festival Theatre. The Shaw is not a good place to see a lot of plays by Bernard Shaw.

The current production of Major Barbara directed by Peter Hinton-Davis has some superb acting and imaginative touches that make a visit to Niagara-on-the-Lake exceptionally worthwhile even if you have some complaints about it.

Hinton-Davis sets the play precisely between January 5 and 7, 1906 (a year after it was written) whereas Shaw was content with less exacting timing, The director adds some hymns that were sung with relish by the cast without adding much to the production but the play is about the Salvation Army so there you go.

The first act is set in the library of Lady Britomart Undershaft (Fiona Byrne), the wife of the millionaire arms manufacturer, Andrew Undershaft (Patrick Galligan). Undershaft is an unabashed capitalist who is in the business of providing weapons that kill people to whoever is willing to pay for them. He is separated from his family and does not even recognize his children, son Stephen (Taurian Teelucksingh) and daughters Barbara (Gabriella Sundar Singh) and Sarah (Lindsay Wu).

Our attention is drawn to  Barbara, a major in the Salvation Army whose goal in life is to save people’s souls. Her father believes in providing food, shelter and the amenities of life for workers without worrying about their souls. Barbara and her father reach a climax when the Salvation Army accepts money from him, the purveyor of instruments of war and death. 

André Morin as Adolphus Cusins, Gabriella Sundar Singh

as Barbara Undershaft, Taurian Teelucksingh as 

Stephen Undershaft and Patrick Galligan as Andrew 

Undershaft. Shaw Festival, 2025). Photo by David Cooper

The first act belongs to Fiona Byrne as the imperious, sarcastic and marvelous Lady Britomart. She comes from aristocratic lineage but must rely on her estranged husband for the money required to maintain her lifestyle. Byrne displays strength of character, wit, and intelligence, and dominates the act with a stunning performance.

Galligan keeps his own as does Andre Morin as the classicist Adolphus Cusins but their turn to express the position of their characters will wait until the final act of the play. They do superb work. I had problems with Gabriella Sundar Singh’s portrayal of Major Barbara. She seemed to lack the power to create a convincing and commanding woman. She seemed to disappear in the crowd even when she took the principled decision to leave the Salvation Army when it accepted money from her father. She eventually “sees the light” but I did not feel the strength and conviction of her faith in the Army or her conversion to capitalism.

In the final act all arguments come to a head with Galligan taking control of the situation with conviction and assurance. He gives an outstanding performance. Morin gives a fine performance as a man of strength and ability and gives us a Cusins who can run a large industry even though he is not sure if three-fifths is more than one-half. He is deeply learned man with a command of Ancient Greek and he joined the Salvation Army because he was attracted to Barbara and not out of any religious conviction.

The set by Gillian Gallow is unrealistic featuring a blue background with steps on each side. In the first act the back of the stage features a flowery background with a photograph of half of the face of a woman. The scene changes to the Salvation Army shelter and then to the Undershaft arms factory are achieved economically with minimal fuss and the whole thing works well except for the scene in the factory where Hinton-Davis adds the cacophonous bellowing of a hymn while in the background we hear music from Richard Wagner’s Gotterdammerung.  Very annoying.

Shaw could not be knocked off the soap box once he got on it and it holds true for Major Barbara. But fine acting and directing do the job and we enjoy the arguments and the exceptional production
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Major Barbara by Bernard Shaw continues at the Royal George Theatre as part of The Shaw Festival until October 5. 2025 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. www.shawfest.com.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press, Toronto