It’s hard to do a proper review of Fortune’s Fool Theatre’s current production of Bryna Turner’s play “Bull In A China Shop” because it feels like it was designed in a lab to be everything I want in a production of a new(ish, 2017) play, so I’m frankly defenseless against its many charms.
“At first it felt like I was dying, but I wouldn’t die.”
“How did you recover?”
“Slowly. And Lydia.”
It’s funny, it’s romantic, it clips along at a steady pace, it’s based on a true story from queer history I’d never heard before (and yet it’s not stuffy in the way many a historical play might be - in fact it’s so much fun that I had to remind myself that it wasn’t made up by the playwright but was something that actually happened). Most of all, it centers on a couple who met, fell in love, and then were together for the rest of their lives - with all the ups and downs that entails.
“Playwriting? That’s not really a field for a woman.”
It’s directed by Shanan Custer, who is a delight whether she’s writing, acting, improvising or directing a piece of theater.
“I miss it, the smell of your sheets.”
It features as the central couple Victoria Pyan as Mary Woolley and Ariel Pinkerton as Jeannette Marks, two actors who I could watch do pretty much anything, but put a juicy, romantic, funny play like Turner’s in their hands and just watch them cook on a whole other level.
“You can’t major in ‘horses,’ Welsh.”
The tag line for the publicity for the production is “They led a revolution in eduction. They never hid their love.” Woolley was president of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts - a woman’s college in need of an infusion of new blood and new ideas, and over her nearly 40 years at the institution, she completely transformed it from a place where women went to become better marriage material to a place where women went to expand their minds, whether they ever bothered to get married or not. Woolley’s partner in these efforts, and in life, Marks was a professor who inspired devotion in her students (perhaps at times a bit too much devotion?) and helped change and broaden the curriculum in the English department.
“You think Thoreau wasn’t writing self-important gibberish?”
Now you wouldn’t think that would be fertile territory for either comedy or romance or a fast-paced show with real emotional stakes, but you would be wrong. “Bull In A China Shop” is all that and more. And clocking in at under 90 minutes, not only doesn’t it overstay its welcome, it very much leaves you wanting more.
“Embarrassment - a social construct to restrict the wing span of the mind.”
Kyra Richardson, so great in Fortune’s Fool Theatre’s production of “Lincoln’s Children” just a couple of years ago, is even better here in the role of Pearl, one of Jeanette’s overly devoted students. She gets a lot of great moments in this supporting role and makes the most of all of them.
“If you leave the rest of us behind, I’ll never forgive you.”
Rounding out the ensemble of five are Penelope Parsons-Lord as Dean Welsh, who brings a dose of reality from the outside world, and quite a bit of wry humor, to her support of Woolley steering the campus into the 20th century; and Bethani Talatala as Felicity, who is Jeanette’s housemate, and ends up awkwardly playing go-between when the main couple is scrapping over everything from women’s suffrage to extended foreign travel to romantic misadventures.
“Drink your water, take your aspirin, and grow up!”
It’s remarkable how, with just five people, the script and production populate an entire world. Parsons-Lord also designed the lovely period costumes (who knew undoing a corset could be so… sexy?). Pinkerton also designed the lighting. Kevin Lock designed the clever set and props (an archway also becoming a jail cell was a simple but effective bit of theater magic, helping the play keep moving right along). Lock gets an assist on the design from Ash Aurig. Custer gets an assist with the intimacy work from Callie Aho, and the production overall from the stage management of Sarah Schmitt.
“Why is this the first line in ‘Orlando’?”
Oh, and did I mention it’s free? (Thanks to a generous grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council.) (You can, of course, feel free to tip the theater on the way out or hit their website to make a donation, but they don’t want the price of a ticket to be a barrier to people seeing theater, so all you have to do is get yourself to the theater. Reservations are recommended, however, because the Hive Collaborative venue is small, and the closing matinee performance is already close to selling out.)
“I will give you fully evolved human beings. If a man is interested in a headless woman, send him to France.”
I caught “Bull In A China Shop” in the middle of its run so we’re coming up on closing weekend, but there’s still three performances left, this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 25, 26 and 27, 2026 (Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2pm). Performances are at the Hive Collaborative, 677 Hamline Avenue in Saint Paul. Reservations can be made through the Fortune’s Fool Theatre’s website.
“There’s a fan club, a secret society. We’ve got a mascot and everything.”
If you enjoy good theater, you should see “Bull In A China Shop.” It’s great stuff.
5 stars - Very Highly Recommended
(Photo, left to right, Victoria Pyan and Ariel Pinkerton in Fortune Fool Theatre's production of "Bull In A China Shop")
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