‘BRIDGE CLUB’ DEALS QUEENS, FEW TRUMPS

Without giving away any secrets--don’t worry about what Betsy (Pamela Brown) has in her hatboxJ. Barry’s “The Octette Bridge Club” at the West End Playhouse isn’t that kind of play.

The scene is Providence, R.I. The time is years ago. Betsy is youngest of eight grown-up sisters. All but one of them has a family of her own, but every other Friday night, the Donavan girls play bridge.

They don’t just play bridge. In 1934 (Act I), they have their picture taken by a nice young man from the Providence Journal (Peter Michael McDonald). In 1944 (Act II), they put on a little talent show.

Ten years have brought changes. Betsy has had a nervous breakdown--which nobody wants to discuss except Betsy. Martha, the oldest (Oceana Marr), can’t hear half of what’s going on, making it harder to intimidate the others. Mary, the shy one (Patricia Huston), has had a stroke.

But they are still the Donavan girls. Martha will always be the oldest. Betsy will always be the baby. Connie (Helen Siff) still enjoys being crude. Lil (Sheila Shaw) still smoothes over unpleasantness by striking up a tune at the piano. The sisters may not be as huggy as Betsy wishes, but they’re as close as ever--in their way.

Friday night’s audience liked “The Octette Bridge Club.” So did I, except for the revelations. Act II is full of them: “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this, but. . . . “

The listener knows: to stir up conflict. However, this is one play that doesn’t profit from conflict. As in Thornton Wilder’s “The Long Christmas Dinner,” its virtue is to show people enjoying the pleasure of one another’s company, as the clock ticks on.

All of its revelations put together aren’t as revealing as the moment when Lil, frowning over her cards, begins a little song about a lost dog and everybody joins in, just as absent-mindedly. It’s such an instinct in this family to sing that they hardly realize they’re doing it.

“The Octette Bridge Club” only ran for a couple of months on Broadway in 1985, but it will have a long life in community theater, which can always use a good all-female play. (The nice young photographer is gone after the first scene.) The West End Playhouse isn’t a community theater, but it does have that kind of enthusiasm, and the play seems very much at home.

Director Teri Ralston has chosen her company well. Even when there’s not a family resemblance, one can believe that these women grew up in the same home. All but Brown, who seems too soft and fey for a Donavan. But then she’s supposed to be the spoiled one.

The other Donavans are played by Mimi Cozzens, Patti Karr and June Sanders. Sanders is particularly enjoyable when pleasantly informing her older sister, Marr, that she will visit Papa and Mama’s grave when her present family duties allow her to do so.

Interestingly, Huston makes the drab Mary more vivid after her stroke than before, as if the shock of it had brought out the woman in her. In Act II, she becomes the life of the party--comparatively. “The Octette Bridge Club” is not an evening of wild hilarity, but it’s an enjoyable night out, particularly when nothing much is happening.

The play will continue at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays through June 21. Tickets $10-$12. 7446 Van Nuys Blvd. (818) 904-0444.

Saturday’s review of HBO’s “Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8” stated that Jeremy Kagan’s script was based on the Odyssey Theatre’s 1979 play, “The Chicago Conspiracy Trial.” Kagan writes to say that his script was “not, repeat not, based on any play, particularly the Odyssey’s.” We should have followed the official credits and said that Kagan’s script was “suggested by” the Odyssey’s production.