Review of The Cottage, Hartford Stage
In Sandy Rustin's farcical comedy, The Cottage, playing at Hartford Stage through February 7, it's 1923 and the eponymous cottage is located "about 90 minutes outside London." The date has significance because, as dramaturg Sophie Greenberg reminds us in the playbill, in British history women had gotten the vote and, very recently, the right to divorce for a spouse's infidelity, and, we might add, the ability to inherit independently of husbands. All this is meaningful for how The Cottage plays out, ultimately, but it would be a shame to weigh down the fluff of this play with heavy social meaning. It's more a case of giving the women in the play a bit more autonomy than they might enjoy in a play actually composed in the 1920s.
Briefly: the cottage belongs to the ailing mother of two brothers, Beau (Jordan Sobel) and Clarke (Craig Wesley Divino), who like to use it for extramarital trysts. We first meet Beau's beau, Sylvia (Mary Cavett), as she preens on a couch in a negligee, awaiting her lover on the morning after their yearly sexcapade.
Sylvia (Mary Cavett), The Cottage, Hartford Stage (photo by T. Charles Erickson)
Both are married, you see, and Sylvia's husband happens to be Clarke. When Sylvia gets around to telling Beau she's sent out a telegram to Clarke, informing him she's leaving him for Beau, we've got a situation: Beau seems not that keen. Meanwhile, Clarke and the other recipient of a telegram, Beau's pregnant wife, Marjorie (Kate MacCluggage), arrive separately. And we learn something neither of their spouses had suspected.
Marjorie (Kate MacCluggage), Beau (Jordan Sobel), The Cottage, Hartford Stage (photo by T. Charles Erickson)
We might think we've got enough going on right there, but no. Beau—"the best-looking man in London" we're told—has also been unfaithful to Sylvia and to Marjorie with Dierdre (Jetta Juriansz), who presently arrives, elated, with her divorce papers from Richard. But is Beau likely to be happy about that? And what about Richard who, as Dierdre explains, is apt to be homicidal in his jealousy. Meanwhile, we learn that one reason Sylvia is not altogether upset by Beau's unfaithfulness, nor Clarke's, is that she was once truly in love but lost William in the war. Can you see where this is going?
Dierdre (Jetta Juriansz), Clarke (Craig Wesley Divino), Marjorie (Kate MacCluggage), Sylvia (Mary Cavett), The Cottage, Hartford Stage (photo by T. Charles Erickson)
Enough about the plot. How about that set? By Tim Mackabee, the cottage is quite a catch, and not only is it spacious and tasteful, it's got jokey props sitting all over and is perfect for a pratfall down the stairs, and its front-door, often pounded upon for entry, has the presence of a character, especially with Mom's portrait looking down from above. As with many a Hartford Stage production, scenery adds so much to how the show looks and how the characters move about. Here, all the busyness is always very visible. And that's important because all these actors are fully engaged in being entertaining wherever they are on stage and whatever they might be doing. There are laughs galore.
Beau (Jordan Sobel), Clarke (Craig Wesley Divino), Marjorie (Kate MacCluggage), Dierdre (Jetta Juliansz), Sylvia (Mary Cavett), The Cottage, Hartford Stage (photo by T. Charles Erickson)
Director Zoë Golub-Sass, Hartford Stage's Associate Artistic Director, lets her able cast make the most of every weird foible of these characters. Richard, who shows up in Act 2, is made a study in amusing oddity by Matthew J. Harris's mercurial presentation, and Jetta Juriansz's Dierdre, while having to carry a bit too much backstory, is a comic delight, whether skulking in the background, or drunk and splayed, or occasionally offering comments so apropos she surprises herself.
Richard (Matthew J. Harris), Dierdre (Jetta Juriansz), Marjorie (Kate MacCluggage), Clarke (Craig Wesley Divino), Beau (Jordan Sobel), The Cottage, Hartford Stage (photo by T. Charles Erickson)
As Clarke, Craig Wesley Divino runs a gamut of silliness—his effort to rush to his wife's defense is total slapstick—but also manages to be almost intelligent when required. Kate MacCluggage, as Marjorie, plays self-satisfied quite well as well as sexually voracious and gets to mime a rip-roaring fart that everyone gets to react to. It's that kind of play.
Marjorie (Kate MacCluggage), Clarke (Craig Wesley Divino), Sylvia (Mary Cavett), Dierdre (Jetta Juriansz), Beau (Jordan Sobel), The Cottage, Hartford Stage (photo by T. Charles Erickson)
As the couple who changes most, Jordan Sobel's Beau gets a series of shocks and surprises that keep him almost wholly in reaction mode, played with remarkable energy; as Sylvia, Mary Cavett becomes more interesting the more she disengages from the various males who presume to be meaningful to her. Even if each once was, are any now?
Beau (Jordan Sobel), Sylvia (Mary Cavett), The Cottage, Hartford Stage (photo by T. Charles Erickson)
The final takeaway is that all a woman really needs is a cottage of one's own, to vary Virginia Woolf's well-known, apt observation (first delivered in 1928).
The Cottage
By Sandy Rustin
Directed by Zoë Golub-Sass
Scenic Design: Tim Mackabee; Costume Design: Hunter Kaczorowski; Lighting Design: Evan C. Anderson; Sound Design: Nathan A. Roberts and Charles Coes; Wig & Hair Design: Timmy Kurzman; Fight Coordinator: Michae Rossmy; Dialect & Voice Coach: Julie Foh; Casting: Alldaffer & Donadio Casting; Production Stage Manager: Avery Trunko; Assistant Stage Manager: Alison Fischer Greene; Director of Production: Bryan T. Holcombe; General Manager: Emily Van Scoy
Cast: Mary Cavett, Craig Wesley Divino, Matthew J. Harris, Jetta Juriansz, Kate MacCluggage, Jordan Sobel
Hartford Stage
January 16-February 8, 2026