The Skin Game: Civility Wars

"What's gentility worth if it can't stand fire?", asks a disheartened English gentleman in John Galsworthy's 1920 drama, The Skin Game. When the play premiered the world had just experienced a war where the accepted "gentlemen's rules" of warfare were replaced with the advantages to be had by using modern weaponry. The days of armies facing each other on open fields and fighting like men were coming to a close. Technical achievements had made it possible to kill your enemies from greater distances without ever having any personal contact.

In this morality tale of family "warfare" with a plot reminiscent of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Galsworthy pits the old money, serenely-named Hillcrist family against the nouveau riche Hornblowers in a squabble where traditional rules of fair conflict mix with deception and blackmail.

This is the sort of thing the Mint Theater Company does so splendidly. Specializing in finding rarely-revived 20th Century plays, especially forgotten titles by significant authors, their productions are unashamedly old-fashioned, but never musty. Their motto of "good stories well told" is especially evident in this engrossing tale.

The expression "skin game" was once used to describe a swindle or use of an unfair advantage. To Jack Hillcrist, the patriarch of the play's privileged family, it is any deviance from the rules of fair play that interfere with the establish British social class structure.

"All life's a struggle between people at different stages of development, in different positions, with different amounts of social influence and property", he tells his modern-minded daughter, Jill, "And the only thing is to have rules of the game and keep them. New people like the Hornblowers haven't learned those rules. Their only rule is to get all they can."

What the Hornblowers wish to do is buy up land near the Hillcrist estates in which to build factories, ruining their lovely view and evicting the long-time working class tenants in the process. After the Hillcrist patriarch is tricked into losing the land at an auction, an opportunity for the family to stop the action comes with the knowledge of a certain chapter of Hornblower's daughter-in-law's past. Does it become proper to sacrifice an innocent bystander for what is perceived to be the greater good?

Though Galsworthy's script leans toward melodrama, director Eleanor Reissa's exceptional ensemble cast rarely discloses the play's insignificant flaws. As daughter-in-law Chloe, Diana LaMar has the most difficult job in role that often sends her to heights of hysteria, but she keeps herself believable and sympathetic. Stephen Rowe, an actor who makes sleaziness seem second nature, puts his skill to good use as the Hillcrist family agent, and Nick Berg Barnes delivers a fine comic turn as the auctioneer.

Vicki R. Davis' versatile and detailed set makes excellent use of a small space and Tracy Christensen contributes some fine period costumes.

As anti-war plays go, The Skin Game may lack the passion that Americans might be accustomed to when approaching such a subject, but this is a case where speaking softly is most effective.