FASCIST THREAT INFORMS 1934 ‘RAIN FROM HEAVEN’

Are any contemporary playwrights as politically prescient as S. N. Behrman was in 1934? That was the year of his “Rain From Heaven,” which examined the coming clash between fascism and democracy and homed in on the possibility of a Jewish holocaust.

Behrman did this within the confines of an English country house comedy. Or that’s what he attempted; in fact, those confines were too confining and the play became ungainly and unusually bitter for its genre. Still, the locale--suggested by designer Gary L. Wissman on the stage at Room for Theatre--makes its own point; in a few years not even English country houses would be safe.

At nearly three hours, “Rain” is quite a torrent of words. Not all of them are easy to speak, and not all were in place on opening night of Deborah LaVine’s staging.

Yet the actors were well cast. Wearing a succession of classy outfits designed by Leslie Tamarro Yarmo, Melody Ryane sparkles as the princess of the politically aware smart set. Just as dashing, and with a shock of dark hair that matches Ryane’s, is John David Carson’s vacuous young American explorer. He’s wooing her, but she knows better than to get involved.

Rumpled Philip Allen plays the explorer’s sinister brother and Bert Kramer portrays the explorer’s unwitting rival, a part-Jewish music critic who has just fled Germany. Cynthia David’s bit as a jealous harridan effectively disrupts the play’s polite surfaces.

Performances are at 12745 Ventura Blvd., Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 4:30 p.m., through May 24. Tickets: $10-$12.50; (818) 509-0459.

‘NAMES’

Behrman was a “premature anti-fascist,” in the lingo of the postwar red-baiters. The result of such labeling is on display in Mark Kemble’s “Names.”

In this “historical fiction,” Kemble put John Garfield (Kemble), Clifford Odets (Greg Mullavey), Harold Clurman (Philip Roth), Lee Strasberg (Christopher Weeks), Stella Adler (Paula Shaw) and Luther Adler (Jon Slade, too young for the role) in a room at the Algonquin Hotel on the day in 1952 when Elia Kazan (Marc Alaimo) testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Garfield summons these luminaries of the defunct Group Theatre in order to propose united action against the HUAC demagogues. Suddenly, Kazan appears and informs his former comrades that he has cooperated with the committee, to the extent of naming names--including that of Odets. The meeting, already replete with backbiting and teeth-gnashing, erupts into shouting and fistfights.

“Names” is more of an actors’ showcase than a serious discussion of the issues or the times, and Allan Rich’s cast makes the most of it. Kemble and Mullavey are particularly telling as drowning men grasping for life preservers. Rich’s blocking keeps a talky play in motion and Roger C. Ambrose’s detailed set creates a masterful illusion of depth.

As a text, “Names” is perched uneasily between the documentary effects of “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been” and the imaginative flights that might have resulted from a bolder fantasy. The tension would be keener if we could actually see the enemy; instead, Kemble wastes time on such diversions as the state of the Clurman-Adler marriage.

Performances are at the Burbank Theatre Guild, 1100 W. Clark St., Thursdays through Sundays at 8 p.m., through May 31. Tickets: $10; (818) 848-7791.

‘PLANET SONGS AND DIATRIBES’

“Planet Songs and Diatribes” is a Tuesday evening program of cabaret at the Powerhouse--dubbed the Kit Kat Club for the occasion.

Susan Krebs, best known for her work with War Babies and the Wims, offers the “Planet Songs.” No sleekly gowned chanteuse, she dresses as she might for a casual evening at home, and she sings half of her numbers while sitting on a sofa that belongs in a rumpus room, not a showroom.

Accompanied by a three-piece band, her repertoire Tuesday included songs by Kurt Weill, Dave Frishberg and Billie Holliday. Her guitarist Mitch Greenhill wrote one of the set’s most perceptive songs, “I Wish I Was Here Tonight.”

Krebs has a dark, unadorned voice that handles the material well (though it’s too bad mikes are necessary in such a small room), and her commentary is witty and thoughtful. So witty, in fact, that she earned more laughs than did the show’s comic, Darryl Henriques, whose “Diatribes” reportedly change weekly.

Perhaps he would have been more impressive without emcee John Achorn’s admonition to “fasten your seat belts” before his set. Instead of a wild ride, Henriques presented a succession of unexceptional jokes about his childhood, his potential fatherhood, his penis, Jews and Jesus and other subjects familiar to anyone who frequents the comedy clubs. His remarks on meat-eaters were fairly original, but generally the set was shapeless and the laughs seemed strained.

Performances are at 3116 2nd St., Santa Monica, Tuesdays at 8 p.m., indefinitely. Tickets: $10; (213) 392-6529.

‘HIT AND RUN’

If only the 25 characters in “Hit and Run” would hit and run, the play might be more bearable. But no, the poor actors spend most of their time just standing there, wondering what to do while the other 24 deliver long, overwrought speeches. This play, set in the men’s room of a Las Vegas casino, actually includes 12 spotlit monologues on the subject of Lady Luck.

It also includes the unlikeliest hostage plot, the most embarrassing dream sequence and the most gratuitously cheesy musical number I’ve ever seen. The second act is especially awful. James Kennedy wrote and directed.

Performances are at Burbank On Stage Theatre, 139 N. Golden Mall, Fridays through Sundays at 8 p.m., through May 10. Tickets: $8; (818) 842-0323.