"The Little Foxes:" a Play for Our Time

I just saw the current Broadway revival of Lillian Hellman's play "The Little Foxes," first performed in 1939 and subsequently made into a film starting Bette Davis in 1941.

Hellman was a Southern, Jewish, ultra-liberal author and playwright (she was a member of the Communist Party for a couple of years) and "The Little Foxes" depicts how the rapacious pursuit of wealth in a capitalist environment crushes human values, destroying marriages and families in the process.





Cynthia Nixon played the scheming Regina Gliddens with great conviction in the show that we saw. She and Laura Linney alternate playing Regina and her pathetic, alcoholic sister-in-law Birdie Hubbard during the course of the play's current run.

"The Little Foxes" has been nominated for six Tony awards, including Best Revival, and along with some first-rate acting in the lead roles, the production features an excellent set and great costumes.

Why is this a play for our times?

The behavior and values it depicts are arguably reflected in the Republican health care bill working its way through Congress and in President Donald Trump's current budget proposal. Both would target the poor so as to further enrich already very wealthy members of U.S. society. 

Just as Regina Gliddens happily stands by and lets her husband die when she stands to lose money if he lives somewhat longer, the GOP health care bill would make it impossible for millions to have health insurance so that the wealthy can be relieved of taxes imposed to help finance what is know as Obamacare. Likewise, Trump's budget would gut programs aimed at protecting society and the environment while granting more tax cuts for the wealthy.

These aren't the little foxes mentioned in the Bible who eat tender grapes in the vineyard. These proposals are enormous, rapacious beasts.

"The Little Foxes" is well worth seeing if you have the chance. My only quibble is with two actors playing secondary roles.  Francesca Carppanini is a little stiff and wooden in the role of Regina's daughter, Alexandra, and Michael Benz plays Leo Hubbard more as a caricature than as a character.