STAGE REVIEW : ‘ROUND 2’: SAME JOURNEY, BUT THE ROAD IS BUMPIER

“Round 2” at the Celebration Theatre is Eric Bentley’s rewrite of Arthur Schnitzler’s “La Ronde.” Again, A has a fling with B, B moves on to C, C meets D . . . the whole thing ending up back with A.

But where Schnitzler’s scene was turn-of-the-century Vienna, Bentley’s turf is New York in the 1970s. And where Schnitzler’s lovers were male and female, Bentley’s are gay males.

The streetwalker becomes a male hustler (Scott Williams.) The actress becomes a female impersonator (Michael Gerard.) The married couple becomes a gay couple with an “open relationship” (Arnold McCuller and William Cannon.) But the dynamic is the same as in Schnitzler. “Love” is talked about, but the point is to score.

“La Ronde” was a disturbing play in 1900. Not just for its subject matter, but because Schnitzler presented it so matter-of-factly, almost as if he approved of such goings on. In the same way, Bentley’s “Round 2” has disturbed some gay activists for appearing to condone promiscuity, in the middle of an AIDS epidemic.

In fact, as in Schnitzler’s play, “Round 2” presents the sex hunt as a rather forlorn business. (Bentley allows some laughs at the hypocrisy of the better-heeled hunters.) And we are permitted the thought that A, B and C are passing around something more lethal than “love.” The effect is thoroughly moral.

Alas, the effect of Michael Kearns’ production of “Round 2” is thoroughly dismal. The acting is flat-footed and nervous, with everyone rushing too fast to create a character or to allow a mood to settle. There’s no vocal skill at all, which doesn’t hurt the low-life scenes, but ruins the ones where the characters trade barbs, such as the scene in the actress’s dressing room.

The settings are rudimentary, yet time has to be wasted shoving around the set pieces between scenes, this in a story where one episode should flow into the next. Nobody expects Celebration Theatre to have a big budget, and there’s only admiration for its courage in concentrating on gay themes. But it has got to acquire some theatrical craft.

“Steven Banks’ Home Entertainment Center” is about to close at the Chamber Theatre, but something should be done about that. This is a one-man show about a young man dreaming of doing a one-man show when he should be getting down to his day’s work, and it strikes a terrible note of recognition for the born procrastinator.

Banks is a born home entertainer. He can sing. He can play all kinds of musical instruments in the usual way--the drum, the piano, the guitar, the ukulele--and he can play the recorder with his nose (“Greensleeves”).

He can flip a pencil off his writing desk into the wastebasket or even out of the window. He even bakes cookies in his wall-oven (the show is set in his kitchen), and he will give you one in the lobby after the show. He performs in his bathrobe, and half the audience at Saturday night’s performance also wore bathrobes. Do I smell a cult? The Chamber Theatre is at 3759 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Studio City. (818) 760-9708 or (213) 859-2644.

‘ROUND 2’ Eric Bentley’s play, based on Arthur Schnitzler’s “La Ronde,” at the Celebration Theatre. Director Michael Kearns. Production design L.W. Paulus. Stage managers Ed Santiago and Dave Morrison. Assistant director B.J. Heft. With Scott Williams, David Stebbins, Randy Trovato, Richard Bannon, Arnold McCuller, William Cannon, Moises, John Callahan, Michael Gerard and Stanton Coffin. Plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 5 p.m. 426 N. Hoover. (213) 876-4257.