The trifecta of toxicity — greed, extreme ambition and pure hatred — combines in a sophisticated plot in Lillian Hellman’s classic drama, “The Little Foxes,” which receives a stunning production through Sunday, Feb. 8, at Island City Stage in Wilton Manors.
With Michael Leeds’ assured direction, and his stellar cast, the company finds fresh ways to explore these themes, which seep through the nasty Hubbard family. Their obsession with money and power overrides any relationships or emotions they might possess, making them prone to discarding anyone in their way. Leeds makes the most of Hellman’s 1939 multi-layered and near-perfect script that is still relevant today.
Set during 1900 in a small Alabama town, the play revolves around brothers Benjamin and Oscar, sister Regina and her husband, Horace, a banker who has spent the last five months in a Baltimore hospital suffering from a heart condition. The brothers are obsessed with joining up with a Chicago company to build a cotton mill to “bring the machine to the cotton, and not the cotton to the machine,” as Benjamin says. The deal would elevate the family from their solidly upper-middle class status to the ranks of the truly wealthy.
Benjamin (a superb Stephen Trovillion) and Oscar (an equally superb JohnBarry Green) lust after this business plan and want to keep it between the two of them. But they need $75,000 from bonds that Horace has in his safe deposit box, and so far Horace has refused to answer any letters from the brothers or his wife about the proposed mill.
Regina desperately wants Horace to hand over the money. She yearns for wealth so she can buy whatever she wants, and escape the small town and her loveless marriage. She dreams of being part of Chicago’s high society. “We are in-between, neither poor nor rich,” says Mia Matthews who invests Regina’s longing for money in her timbre.
The siblings are callous people who care only for themselves, fueled by a sense of entitlement. This is illustrated by Oscar’s daily shooting of wild animals whose carcasses are abandoned, left to rot. He angrily rejects the suggestion that the town’s poor residents could use the meat to feed their families. That the mill may change the area’s environmental makeup is also of little concern.
Regina often is considered the villain of “The Little Foxes” — a manipulative, unfeeling, emotionally bankrupt shrew, willing to betray her brothers, even watch someone die to get what she wants. And she is all that, but she is no worse than her brothers. And she is much more.
Under Leeds’ vision, the luminous Matthews shows Regina’s myriad sides. Regina is a product of her era, when women had little power and were limited by the choices the small town offered. She was raised in a misogynistic family. Her brothers followed the path set by their father in their habit of underestimating her. Matthews digs deep to show that Regina has fought all her life for every shred of dignity and influence she has. The audience may not like Regina, though compared with her brothers, she’s a near-angel. But Matthews makes us understand her motivation.
Oscar’s wife, Birdie (a marvelous Margery Lowe), seems to be the opposite of Regina. Birdie is physically frail, emotionally fragile, too chatty — the epitome of her name. But Lowe also shows Birdie has inner strength, though she doesn’t know what to do with it. Lowe eloquently shows how Birdie has resigned herself to a life of domestic abuse, that Oscar married her only for her land and that her sole refuge is alcohol. Birdie has only scorn for her husband and her smarmy son, Leo.
Birdie and Regina share the same traits, but exhibit them differently. Regina turns her disdain outwardly, planning her escape, while Birde directs hers inwardly, seeing no way out. (This double-sided personality was explored in the 2017 Broadway revival in which Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon alternated as Regina and Birdie.)
Christopher Dreeson’s second-act appearance as Horace returning from the Baltimore hospital changes the dynamics of the relationship. Horace is ill, very ill, relying on his box of medications and a cane he keeps dropping, finding as little comfort by sitting in his wheelchair as he did when he ran the bank.
Dreeson shows his frailty but also lends a forcefulness to Horace, depicting him as the intelligent, in-control banker he once was, while trying to make peace with the fact that he is dying. Horace is close to being the moral center among the brothers and Regina, but he has a bit of a dark past. He genuinely despises Oscar, Benjamin and Regina and knows Leo is a fool. His reasons for wanting nothing to do with the mill have little to do with money. Dreeson depicts Horace’s contrasting personality with aplomb.
Oscar and Birdie’s oily son Leo (a perceptive Christian Cooper) seems headed in the direction of his father, with his compassionless attitude toward life. Leo wants to be valued by his father but can only achieve this through theft. Meanwhile, Alexandra, the daughter of Horace and Regina, shows promise that her future may be different. Mallory Flory takes Alexandra from a girl to a young woman who can stand up for herself.
The discussion of forcing a marriage between Leo and Alexandra is a cringe-worthy moment, an idea born purely from greed. That Leo and Alexandra are first cousins doesn’t matter — after all, the siblings’ grandparents were first cousins, which might explain a lot about this family dynamic. Only Birdie finds this plan repulsive, knowing this would be the ruin of her beloved niece.
Production values soar. Island City Stage again proves that its postage-stamp-sized space is no hindrance in mounting large-scale plays, as it showed last season with Edward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance.” Ardean Landhuis’ scenic and lighting design is two-tiered, with a functional staircase and well-appointed furnishings befitting an upper middle-class house during 1900. David Hart’s sound design adds to the ambience. W. Emil White created and sewed the beautiful dresses the women wear, fitting their personalities as their story arcs change. The men’s clothes were purchased.
Island City’s 14th season continues to be captivating, with its recent hilarious staging of the dark comedy musical “Ruthless!,” this outstanding “The Little Foxes” and an intriguing upcoming schedule.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “The Little Foxes,” presented by Island City Stage
WHEN: Extended through Sunday, Feb. 8
WHERE: Island City Stage, 2304 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors
COST: $44-$62
INFORMATION: 954-928-9800; islandcitystage.org
A version of this review ran in floridatheateronstage.com.