EDWARDIAN ANXIETIES,
COMEDIC COMFORT

A rediscovered British comedy reminds
us that decency—not money or status—
may be the most radical virtue of all

When the news of war grows terrifying, a trip back to the 1920s can be reassuring: if people got through that bloody era, we should be able to cope with ours. And you can always count on the Mint Theater Company, the New York ensemble that continues its admirable excavation of neglected repertoire at Theatre Row. Their new work, Zack, by Harold Brighouse (1882–1958) is delightful. Under the lucid direction of Britt Berke, this light-hearted comedy arrives loaded with Edwardian anxieties about poverty, class mobility, and domestic authority. It may not rely on sharp wit or surprising twists, but it delivers a comforting, feel-good story with a happy ending. And, let’s face it, we are all a bit overdue for happy endings.

David T Patterson, Caroline Festa, Cassia Thompson, Melissa Maxwell

We find ourselves in Mrs. Munning’s parlor, a room dressed in blue-and-white stripes, lace curtains, bentwood chairs, and a quaint bay window with a carefully cushioned seat. Brittany Vasta’s set gives us the unmistakable interior of a British middle-class home working very hard to look respectable, and when we meet the matriarch it all makes sense. Mrs. Munning (Melissa Maxwell) is a sharp-tongued widow who runs her household with rigid respectability and very little tolerance for sentiment. Maxwell captures her perfectly: domineering when she can be, but willing to kneel if it helps her climb the social ladder.

David T Patterson, Cassia Thompson

When the daughter of her wealthy cousin announces a visit, Mrs. Munning recruits Sally (a hilarious Caroline Festa) as maid, hoping the added help will make the household appear suitably grand while scrambling for financial rescue. They are preparing the room when her beloved son Paul (David T. Patterson) walks in. He runs the family business and performs as the man of the house but he is spineless, entitled, and complacent. Thanks to Kindall Almond’s clever costumes, which neatly signal each character’s class and situation, Patterson appears like a Norman Rockwell figure come to life, and delivers Paul as a tightly wrapped bundle of insecurity.

David T Patterson, Grace Guichard, Sean Runnett, Melissa Maxwell

The moment Cousin Virginia (Cassia Thompson) steps in, it is obvious that she is from a fancier zip code than the rest of the household. Her refined manners signal a life of comfort, yet Thompson softens the privilege with warmth and grace, giving Virginia something close to an angelic presence. Finally we meet Zack (Jordan Matthew Brown), our hero. He is precisely the sort of man Edwardian society would have dismissed as feckless, yet Brighouse elevates him to a kind of moral aristocracy. Brown’s performance stands out for its disarming innocence, presenting goodness as an antidote to the self-serving masculinity embodied by Patterson’s Paul.

Grace Guichard, Jordan Matthew Brown, Caroline Festa

Aside from Sally the maid, the working class is represented by Martha (Grace Guichard) and her father, Joe Wrigley (Sean Runnette), both plainspoken and practical. Unlike the Munnings, who fret endlessly about appearances, they are concerned with the far more practical matter of surviving, but use the same kind of cunning, mercenary ambition to get what they want. In Wrigley’s book, a consoling hug Zack gave Martha ruined her reputation, and is practically a marriage proposal. He enters the parlor with a shotgun ready to skip straight to the ceremony, causing moral panic. J. Abbott (David Lee Huynh) and Harry Shoebridge (Douglas Rees), possible clients of Paul, are there to remind us that money is always the ultimate objective for misers.

Cassia Thompson, Jordan Matthew Brown, Grace Guichard

All the actors mentioned above bring the right spice to their roles, from ditzy darling Guichard to blunt and sturdy Runnette, creating a lively, well-seasoned tableau that evokes the charm and whimsy of 1920s cinema. And, like the cast, the creative crew delivers an accurate Edwardian mood: lights by Mary Louise Geiger and sound by Jane Shaw serve the naturalistic flow of the play by tracing the moral temperature of the household and of the love story. Mrs. Munning, Paul, and even Joe Wrigley treat relationships and marriage as tools for status and wealth, while Zack and Virginia’s relationships are not transactional, and deserve a softer atmosphere.

Cassia Thompson, Jordan Matthew Brown

Zack is a safe play without triggers; no curses, no shocks, no frights, just a cozy, accessible comedy for the young and old. Even in despotic, oligarchic decades like the 1920s, and now the 2020s, where some have gold bathrooms while most people scrape by on scraps, this play reminds us that greatness comes not from money, gender, or social rank but from the rare practice of human decency. It is a simple concept like the play’s plot, and we all know it (even the oligarchs,) yet we still need to hear it again and again because we seem to be, as Bowie would say, “always crashing in the same car.”

David Lee Huynh, Melissa Maxwell, Sean Runnett, Douglas Rees, David T Patterson

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photos by Todd Cerveris Photography

Zack
The Mint Theatre Company
New York City Center Stage II, 131 W 55th St (between 6th & 7th avenues)
ends on March 28, 2026
for tickets, call 212.714.2442 x 45 or visit Mint

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