STAGE REVIEW : ‘MAYFIELD’S’ PARKING LOT MAYHEM

Under the very downtown parking lot in which playwright Joel Bloom has staged his drive-in movie spoof, “Mayhem at Mayfield Mall,” there might lurk the kind of toxic-waste time bomb that zaps innocent shoppers in Mayfield, Ohio.

The L.A. cousin of Tommy the Toxic Waste Monster (Jay Bright) surely won’t match him in cuddly charm and sloppy table manners. Tommy, you see, burps after meals.

Wait a minute. Parking lot? Drive-in? This is the theater department reporting, isn’t it?

Yes, and Al’s National Theatre, which is producing this ultrahip, ultracampy sendup, is giving the phrase “mixed media” new meaning with this show.

Hang a right off Traction Avenue (just east of Alameda Street in downtown’s industrial zone) onto Hewitt Street, a fantastically menacing street right out of “Repo Man.” Creep past Al’s Bar (which was looking very dark last Sunday night). On your left, a curiously garbed fellow, like the Ghost of Christmas Past, points you into a fenced-off parking lot. Park your car, and an attendant delivers a program, a car speaker and a pair of “2-D” glasses (you can see out the left eye, but not the right).

The only reason to leave your car for the next two hours is to walk over to the concession stand near the elevated stage for popcorn or a Reese’s (childhood drive-in memories, though, place the snack stands at the rear of the parking lot, far from the screen). Bloom’s two-acter is way up there, on the big stage, and here you are, watching it through the windshield from your cushioned driver’s seat, chomping on your Milk Duds. Al’s National Theatre knows how to please.

After some silly trailers for slasher movies and a funny Downtown-Can-Be-Fun ad that spoofs the suburban set in the style of the Bread and Puppet Theatre, “Mayhem” begins--with a murder, in the best tradition.

It seems that developer J. C. Bullock (Bill Bundy) has knowingly built, with the blessing of Mayor Schmeltzer (Tom Tully), a massive shopping mall on top of a large toxic waste dump. Nosy reporter Melissa Mann (Susan Bugg) smells a rat, but what she’s really smelling is Tommy, a green blob bulging with multiple eyeballs and snatching teen-agers along with Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. supporters. “Mayhem” is topical with a capital “T.”

There’s the mandatory absent-minded professor (Larry Coven), a nerd who’s lost Melissa’s heart. There’s the yuppie couple (a wonderful sendup by Dave Reynolds and Cindy Friedl) buying--literally--everything in sight. This show is so hip that the punk couple (Lisa Diana Shapiro and Don Sturdivant) aren’t punk at all: They’re post-punk.

Melissa and the professor, who becomes a macho egghead, do get back together. Tommy does get one last meal--the developer--before he gets his. Not to give anything away, but this plot could only be resolved in an L.A. parking lot.

This is one piece of weird, indigenous theater. Whether it works for you depends on how you like your camp--undercooked, medium or well-done. The jokes fall flat as often as they fly, and the actors sometimes sound like they’re playing opposite Archie Rice in a competition to out-schtick each other. The speaker (at least in my car) worked poorly at best, making it necessary to roll down the window so Bloom’s dialogue could be heard. In more ways than one, this is not the Van Nuys drive-in.

“Mayhem” works as an askew political satire, addressing a very real ecological crisis in the best tradition of topical cartoonists. Monterey Park developers reportedly want to build a mall over the local toxic landfill. This is a spoof that knows its targets are disturbingly close to home.

Performances at 305 S. Hewitt St., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 and 10 p.m., Sundays at 3 and 7 p.m.; ((213) 625-0385). Ends April 26. Be sure to arrive early; parking is limited to about a dozen cars.