STAGE REVIEW : THE TAMING OF ‘OF MICE AND MEN’

John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” (1937) continues to hold the stage. Los Angeles saw an Equity Waiver production of it before Christmas, and in January it was revived at the National Theatre of Great Britain. Now comes Craig Noel’s staging for the Old Globe Theatre.

It is a solid production--simple, calm, well acted, true to the play’s bunkhouse side, but not interested in going into the stark details. “Of Mice and Men” is seen somewhat at a distance, with the respect we give a myth.

Some viewers will appreciate that. A too-vivid rendering of Lennie’s unfortunate habit of petting small animals to death, for instance, would be disturbing. One woman in Saturday night’s audience gasped even at the tactful way that Noel had staged the puppy scene.

Too, it’s clear that Steinbeck did intend “Of Mice and Men” to be a parable. Hulking Lennie (Larry Drake) and grousing George (David Huffman) aren’t just a pair of unlucky ranch hands stumbling from one job to another. They are Everyman and his defective, but cherished, brother. Put them in an abstract landscape, drop the American lingo and they could be Beckett characters.

So a certain idealization of the play is allowable. Too much, though, and a certain blandness sets in. That’s the problem with Noel’s staging. It is so intent on celebrating “Of Mice and Men” as an American classic--which it is--that it cushions away its pain.

Start with Steven Rubin and Kent Dorsey’s elegiac design, with the noon sun streaming onto the wide boards of the barn or a soft lantern glowing on the bunkhouse wall. You wouldn’t be surprised to hear someone sing “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.”

The acting has the same reassuring quality. Drake makes Lennie so lovable that traveling with him seems no trouble at all, and his brutality is indicated rather than demonstrated--one doesn’t fear, in the gut, for his victims.

As for George, Huffman makes it clear, under his grumbling, that he’ll never abandon Lennie. But the tie seems one of habit rather than of emotion. George has to be taciturn, but not all the way to the soul. What’s his stake in this big guy?

Likewise, the other actors--true to the archetype, but not individually true. Jack Axelrod, for instance, is every old codger still trying to prove he can do a man’s work. Nancy Claire Bennett is every discontented ranch wife lookin’ to get herself in trouble.

There’s one remarkable exception. Fred Pinkard plays a black ranch hand who is forced to sleep in the barn, away from the others. Pinkard shows us his false geniality during the day and the rage he feels when he’s in his room at night. But when Lennie blunders in, we also see that this truly is a genial man, if allowed to be.

Amazing how Steinbeck’s somewhat stiff lines come to life at this point, and we’re no longer watching a mere morality tale. Elsewhere, the surprise is why we’re not more involved--why we don’t feel a chill at that strange leather glove that Curley (Johnny Crawford) wears, or why we don’t feel the isolation of these people even as they’re chumming around in the bunkhouse. It’s a lovely production, but John Steinbeck was not Grant Wood.

‘OF MICE AND MEN’ John Steinbeck’s play, at the Old Globe Theatre, San Diego. Director Craig Noel. Scenic and costume designer Steven Rubin. Lighting designer Kent Dorsey. Sound designer Michael Holten. Stage manager Maria Carrera. With David Huffman, Larry Drake, Jack Axelrod, Mitchell Edmonds, Johnny Crawford, Nancy Claire Bennett, Philip Reeves, James Coyle, Don Took, Fred Pinkard. Plays Tuesdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Closes March 10. Tickets: $13.50-$19.50. Balboa Park, San Diego. (619) 239-2255.