Review: “The Little Foxes” Is Still A Sly Classic

Review: The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman. Produced by The Feast and Intiman Theatre. Directed by Ryan Guzzo Purcell. Scenic Design by Julia Hayes Welch. Costume Design by Katrina Hess. Lighting Design by Jessica Trundy. Sound Design by Erin Bednarz. With Ally Poole, Broderick Santeze Ryans, Brenda Joyner, Bradley Wrenn, Alexandra Tavares, Brandon J. Simmons, Jomar Tagatac, and Nabilah Ahmed. Onstage at the Erickson Theatre from October 15th to November 2, 2025. Tickets at https://www.intiman.org/little-foxes/

Some classic plays don’t age well. And, it’s not always the play’s fault…times change and things go out of fashion including dramatic literature and how it’s staged. But, sometimes plays can go out of style and get rediscovered for new audiences because the play itself is enduring and well written. Lillian Hellman’s THE LITTLE FOXES is that kind of play…originally produced in 1939 where it became a well reviewed hit starring Tallulah Bankhead, it lingered around in the better rep houses for decades before popping up for revivals on Broadway in the late 60s with illustrious stars including a very famous go in 1981 with Elizabeth Taylor making her Broadway debut. And, of course there’s the much lauded Bette Davis film from 1941.

But, for younger audiences and especially some young theater makers, they can disdain these older, classicly constructed plays as “old fashioned” or out of touch for today. And, they couldn’t be more wrong. A brilliant, well written and constructed piece of dramatic literature will always work, given a talented team of artists to stage it. Happily, Seattle’s Intiman Theatre and The Feast (formerly known as The Williams Project) have teamed up for an exceptional production of The Little Foxes. It’s timely, (scarily so, actually) and superbly staged, designed and acted. It’s a must see theater treat for anyone who loves riveting adult drama.

Again, I loathe doing a plot synopsis but for those who need one:

The play centers on Regina Hubbard Giddens and her two conniving brothers Benjamin and Oscar Hubbard who are working on a big business deal that will make them far richer than they are now, as the leading citizens in a small Southern town circa 1900. Regina needs $75,000 from her ailing and estanged husband Horace for her share of the deal but Horace isn’t willing to help her and a desperate Regina plots how she can get the money so she can realize her dreams of being rich and escaping the confines of the small hometown she’s always hated. Fortunately for her, things happen that seem to allow Regina to finally best her husband and her two brothers but at what cost?

So, right there you have a juicy plot ripe for an exciting dramatization! A family drama in the South with rich family members trying to get richer and not afraid of screwing over each other or the poor people in the town they live in! You have a strong female lead character who is both rotten but also a bit sympathetic as a woman in an era where women were dismissed and not allowed to take part in business or even make decisions about their own lives. You got sneaky rotten brothers and one brother has a sweet alcoholic wife and a dimwitted son. And, there’s also an adorable teenaged nearly adult daughter for Regina who prefers her sickly father to her conniving mother. And, since it’s a play set in 1900, there’s a wise black servant required to defer to the white supremacy of that time but who is also a warm maternal figure for the teenaged daughter.

Oh, and there’s a heart attack.

So, just with plot, The Little Foxes has a lot to offer. It could get soapy in the wrong hands but Lillian Hellman has crafted a play that crackles with tension and drama while rooting it in believability aided by the fact that Hellman based it on members of her own family back in Alabama.

It’s still a strong work that holds up but this production is aided by a fine staging from Ryan Guzzo Purcell and a great design team featuring a simple chessboard floored, in the round set design from Julia Hayes Welch and dramatic lighting design from Jessica Trundy. There’s also the very handsome, modern costume design by Katrina Hess that puts the cast in very stylish contemporary clothing. I questioned the choice to do The Little Foxes in a contemporary setting but…it really works. The script is so solid and so universal that it works just as well set in 2025 as it does in 1900. And, considering that the play centers on greed and avarice and rich people behaving badly, it couldn’t be any more timely.

But, most of all, this production is blessed with a superb cast of actors led by Alexandra Tavares as Regina. Frequently, Regina is portrayed as an ice queen but Ms Tavares shades her Regina…she’s not just a witch trying to get rich anyway she can. There’s nuance to this performance; you don’t ever really like Regina or what she does, but you might be able to empathize with her situation and the desperation she feels. If you’re looking for a Tallulah Bankhead/Bette Davis style of Regina, you’re not going to find it here…and, that’s fine. There’s more than one way to play a complex character like Regina.

All the women are great here, with lovely work from Brenda Joyner as poor, melancholic/alcoholic Birdie, trapped in a loveless marriage with a creepy son she despises. She has a lovely long monologue in the last act that was superbly done. And, Nabilah Ahmed really makes something of the rather underwritten role of Alexandra, the young daughter…she added some fire and dimension to the character.

I really enjoyed Ally Poole as Addie, the household servant, a type of role in these older plays that’s difficult to play and place for modern audiences…the servile, usually Black character in one of the few types of roles available to actors of color ‘back in the day’. Often, these characters are minor or insulting; Hellman actually gives Addie some depth and fire but I very much liked Ms Poole’s take on the material. There’s a scene where Addie is chastised by one of the Hubbard brothers for getting “above herself” and Addie responds by immediately code switching to a subservient voice to placate the domineering white man and Ally Poole plays it very well; you can hear the subtle anger and sarcasm in her voice when she replies to him…it’s one of the rare times when you can hear someone speak and actually hear “sarcasm quotes” inflected verbally. It was an effective and well acted moment.

In many ways, The Little Foxes is a “woman’s play” because it’s dominated by women, or at least one woman. And, I think the male characters can actually be tricky for male actors to portray without going over the top…over emphasizing their southerness or their cruelty and avarice. This production has apparently chosen to not do any kind of southern accent, which I missed at first, but I think it does aid in making the play more relateable. Southern accents and sneaky characters are a gateway to hamhanded acting but the ensemble here is so strong that they’ve navigated away from any of those traps. Jomar Tagatac is a formidable Benjamin Hubbard, the oldest brother and the dominant business partner; he’s steely but there’s also hints of warmth at times.

Bradley Wrenn was also very good as the weaker and more sniveling brother, Oscar, nicely playing all the facets of a despicable character who abuses his wife. And, Broderick Santeze Ryans was great as Leo, the dimwitted son of Oscar…frequently, Leo is played as TOO stupid but the actor nicely underplays and makes his Leo seem convincingly real.

Veteran Seattle actor Brandon J. Simmons plays two roles here, as the visiting Chicago businessman in Act One then the more important role of Regina’s husband, Horace Giddens. I guess it saved on hiring another actor but they also didn’t try very hard to make the characters look very different from one another; it was all based on performance with one character very hale and hearty and the other very sickly. Mr. Simmons was fine as the Hale and Hearty but even better as Unwell and Weak Hearty, nicely playing both Horace’s physical frailties but also his still sharp acumen as well as some tender moments recalling happier days when he still loved Regina.

He also gets to have a fun exit! An actor’s dream!

This has been mostly a love letter but I do have a couple minor notes…the in the round staging worked well for me, sitting in the main part of the auditorium but I question if audience members back in the far left corner had very good views of the actors for much of the time. And, there was a decision to stage this in a presentational style with it being obvious that these are actors in roles. Frankly, I don’t think it added anything to the play and it seemed mostly awkward at scene changes as some of the actors were forced to make up some small talk (“ha ha! Look at me change my clothes as we change scenes!”). It just felt clunky and unnecessary.

But, overall, Intiman and The Feast have done a superb job in their staging of The Little Foxes. It’s a timeless piece of great American dramatic literature and it’s very much worth seeing. Highly recommended.