The Voysey Inheritance by Harley Granville Barker, adapted by David Mamet. Atlantic Theater Company. This estimable revival of Harley Granville Barker's great morality play starring some of the best older and younger talent on Broadway has deservedly garnered raves, however last yearI was fortunate enough to have seen the superb, virtually perfect English National Theatre revival of "The Voysey Inheritance", still in repertory in London, and I was appalled by Mamet's evisceration of the play's heart. Mamet has taken much of the domestic sentimentality out of the play, removing two of the romantic subplots involving the Voysey family. A terrible mistake because the plot of "The Voysey Inheritance" hinges on the fact that this "teddibly" upright, very upper middle class, spotlessly respectable British family glowing with a happy domestic bliss, gracefully negotiating their everyday struggles with love and marriage (all of which is portrayed with a knowing winking and warm sensibility worthy of a Pinero) is in the end built on a web of lies and deceit. Take away the domestic issues and all you have left is a lawyer struggling with his conscience. How dare Mamet think he knows better than Barker? I happen to know personally, through no less a personage than John Gielgud, that Barker was held in a special reverence by the British theatrical community as perhaps the canniest director and theater guru of the 20th Century, and, by comparison, Mamet is a pygmy.
However, for those who have not seen "The Voysey Inheritance" either in London or at the well-praised revival by the Mint, it's well worth seeing as is, and perhaps there will be some who know both who will feel that Mamet has made an improvement. In any case, the Atlantic Theater company has put on a superb production, with a terrific stage set, gorgeously rich costuming, and cast it as well as one could desire on this side of the ocean. I particularly liked the veteran Fritz Weaver as the elder Voysey. His time on stage is short, but he is unforgettable. "The Voysey Inheritance" passes "The Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test" with a solid "B".