Games of Love and War

By Gwendolyn Rice for Isthmus June 20, 2019

American Players Theatre opened its 40th season on Saturday with a beautiful indoor production of The Man of Destiny, a rarely seen comedy about strategy, power and manipulation by George Bernard Shaw. The witty, cerebral sparring match features uniformly strong performances from its four-person cast.

Destiny, which will be performed in the Touchstone through Sept. 21, is set at the end of the 18th century. It is a verbal and strategic fight to the finish — with a dash of sexual tension —  involving a young Napoleon Bonaparte (a measured Charles Pasternack, making his APT debut) and a “strange lady” (a mesmerizing Cassia Thompson, returning after apprenticing last season) who cross paths one evening in an Italian inn.

Directed with a light touch by APT regular James Boehn, the battle of wits is classic Shaw. It includes conversations about the cost of war, the imbalance of power between men and women, the inconvenience of morality for some classes, and the art of seduction. It is also a pleasant reminder that even a soldier who sets his sights on becoming emperor of the world can be outfoxed by an intellect hiding in plain sight.

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