Review: Hazel Ellis' 1938 Social Commentary WOMEN WITHOUT MEN Receives a Splendid Mint Mounting

There is no theatre company in New York calling attention to the underappreciated work of dead white female playwrights as artistic director Jonathan Bank's Mint. Founded as a company devoted to plays that are forgotten but worthy, the company has almost single-handedly led the crusade to recognize gems by the likes of Rachel Crothers and Teresa Deevy.

Further attention will surely be paid, as the company, after being priced out of their long-time home on West 43rd Street, has now settled into high-profile new digs at New York City Center. They've christened the space with director Jenn Thompson's splendid mounting of Irish playwright Hazel Ellis' WOMEN WITHOUT MEN.

After beginning her career as an actor with the Abbey Theatre, Ellis turned to playwriting and penned two well-received offerings. Produced in 1938 at Dublin's Gate Theatre, WOMEN WITHOUT MEN came two years after her PORTRAIT IN MARBLE. Both were well-received but, at age 30, Ellis gave up the theatre for a chance at domestic bliss. Her two marriages proved far less successful than her two plays.

Ireland's 1937 constitution, greatly favoring the Catholic Church, restricted the roles of women in society, relegating brides to leave their employment for a life of keeping house.

So the all-female staff of teachers at the posh Malyn Park Private School For Girls would have been seen as somewhat rebellious for their time. The play is entirely set in the school's teacher's sitting room, finely realized by designer Vicki R. Davis as a large open space, tastefully furnished, with numerous semi-private work areas.

As is often the case for such ventures, exposition is handled by having the lay of the land explained to someone new. The young and idealistic Miss Jean Wade (Emily Walton) comes to the school seeking the comfort of solidarity she imagines Malyn Park will provide to her with its history of women shaping the lives of girls.

But hard-boiled Miss Marjorie Strong (Mary Bacon) clues her in on the reality that a small school like theirs increases the feeling of confinement that "gets on your nerves more."

Indeed, little annoyances can become major headaches when continually exposed to the complaints of Miss Willoughby (Aedin Moloney) and Miss Ridgeway (Kate Middleton), the only teachers required to double-up on a room, or the way French teacher Mademoiselle Vernier (Dee Pelletier) is mocked for her well-meaning graces.

Miss Wade has unknowingly made an enemy of the rigid Miss Connor (Kellie Overbey) when she disregards her advice against being too familiar with the girls she teaches. ("It will only lead to impertinence.") Phyllis Conway, Dorothy Benson and Peggy Summers play three precocious students, one of whom becomes inadvertently involved in an accusation made by Miss Connor against Miss Wade that could get her terminated.

The title WOMEN WITHOUT MEN would certainly seem provocative, perhaps even inflammatory, in a long-ago Ireland with its newly constitutionally-enforced sexism, but its depiction of an exclusively female society in microcosm, with its own practices and morality codes, can still provide an education for those not privy to it.

An exemplary ensemble plays out Ellis' sharp and clever dialogue without the benefit of a modern eye and the reality that this imperfect situation was often the only alternative to marriage adds a dark texture to highly-polished proceedings. As is often the case with Mint discoveries, WOMEN WITHOUT MEN offers a fascinating peek into how theatre has always been used to address contemporary issues.

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