Imagine a perfectly boring afternoon at the home of underwear magnate John Tarleton. His daughter, Hypatia, is bored out of her mind and engaged to the dull Bentley Summerhays. His son, Johnny, is a stuffy businessman. Their guests are equally proper. Then, a plane falls out of the sky and into their greenhouse. The pilot is Lina Szczepanowska, a fearless Polish acrobat, and her passenger is Joey Percival, a charming young man with radical ideas.

The Story

The crash is just the start. The intruders turn the house upside down. Hypatia immediately sees Joey as an escape from her boring fiancé. A mysterious clerk named Gunner shows up, intending to shoot John Tarleton over a past grievance, but gets completely distracted by everyone's wild arguments. For the rest of the play, characters pair off, break apart, and debate everything under the sun. They talk about whether parents ruin their children, if marriage is a trap, the emptiness of wealth, and the need for real adventure. It's less about a plot moving from A to B, and more about watching a dozen fireworks all go off at once in a confined space.

Why You Should Read It

What I love about Shaw here is his fearlessness. He throws every sacred cow of Edwardian society into the ring and lets his characters wrestle with it. Hypatia's desperate cry for 'life' is powerful. The businessman Tarleton is oddly sympathetic as he realizes his money can't buy happiness or understanding. Lina, the aviatrix, is a fantastic symbol of a new, independent woman, utterly baffling the men around her. The dialogue crackles with wit and surprising depth. You'll find yourself laughing at a joke and then stopping to think, 'Wait, he's got a point.'

Final Verdict

This is a perfect read for anyone who loves smart, talky comedies that have something to say. Think of it as a more philosophical, faster-paced cousin to Oscar Wilde. It's for readers who enjoy seeing characters debate big ideas without the story feeling like a lecture. If you've ever felt restless with society's rules, or just love a good, chaotic family drama where the guests are the ultimate disruptors, you'll get a kick out of Misalliance. It's a play that proves a conversation can be the most exciting action of all.