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CANDIDA at WASHINGTON STAGE GUILD

Where else but in a play by George Bernard Shaw could extreme arguments  both about the nature of human love and on  politics (socialism vs capitalism) occur in a peaceful Victorian study of a minister and his wife.  And where else to see this play filled with wisdom and wit,  then as Washington Stage Guild opens the season with GBS’s Candida.
Emelie Faith Thompson stars as Candida, the lovely wife of Rev. James Morell, played by her real life husband Nathan Whitmer.  He is a socialist Anglican clergyman who spars off against Eugene Marchbanks, the son of a peer and Mr. Burgess, Candida’s father.  Ben Ribler spares nothing in intensity in argument as the youthful poet in love with Candida while David Bryan Jackson Candida’s father representing capitalism goes at Morell in a nipping way.
There is mystery in all of this—who will ultimately hold  Candida’s heart as she sorts through all the moments of intense anger and poetic musings.  (No surprise that in the end that Rev. Morell’s secretary played by Danielle Scott and his curate by  Danny Beason will exit as a pair.)
A rare showing of  this Shaw play  now at Washington Stage Guild until Oct. 20, 2019.

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