As embodiments of conflicting philosophical and behavioral approaches--selflessness as opposed to selfishness, romantic as opposed to realistic, the need for exercising the brain as opposed to giving it a rest--Weaver, Donnelly, Stephens, and Holm (who does have some noticeable vocal problems) keep the patter bright and lively while underscoring Shaw's darker themes; the glee Shaw has in couching his arguments as persuasively and as wittily as possible is matched by the actors. Weaver is particularly animated, which can't be easy, since he has the speeches in which Shaw advances his most iconoclastic and complex views.

Weaver especially spins gold from the outburst wherein Don Juan explains why he's leaving hell for heaven (which, incidentally, residents can do simply by choosing to). Scoffing at the dissembling he's seen from his fellow inmates, Don Juan insists:

"They are not beautiful: they are only decorated. They are not clean: they are only shaved and starched. They are not dignified; they are only fashionably dressed. They are not educated; they are only college passmen. They are not religious; they are only pew renters. They are not moral; they are only conventional. They are not virtuous; they are only cowardly. They are not even vicious; they are only frail. They are not artistic; they are only lascivious. They are not prosperous; they are only rich."

Weaver as Don Juan goes on in that fulminating manner breathlessly and with great fervor so that, at the end of the raillery, the audience at the performance I attended burst into applause. My guess is that such a reception occurs nightly, and not only due to Weaver's excellence, but because Shaw here confirms once again that he's a super-playwright.

This production of Don Juan in Hell shows that, sometimes, talk is not cheap; it's what we must do if we at all expect to develop as a species.