STAGE REVIEW : DERIVATIVE ‘EPISODE’ AT THE ODYSSEY

According to the program, Lali Roseba is in the “New Wave” of Soviet playwrights. But there is nothing new about “A Provincial Episode,” which was apparently Roseba’s first play. It’s like the result of an assignment to write a play in the style of Chekhov.

There are worse playwrights to imitate, of course, and “Episode” has a modicum of charm and melancholy. But its derivative quality is inescapable. Although set in 1957, four decades after the revolution, it could easily have been set in Chekhov’s time; the only indications of the later era are the clothes (designed by Valerie T. O’Brien), the phonograph and occasional references to the cinema.

Roseba’s most notable point of departure from what Chekhov might have done with the same material is her play’s smaller size. Where Chekhov wrote about three sisters, Roseba is content with two half-sisters, Nina (Nina Mager-Borisoff) and the younger, more beautiful Zizi (Andra Millian).

They’re actors in a backwater Georgian town, sharing a tiny flat with Nina’s husband Leo (Dan Mason), a hot-tempered fellow thespian. One day, a tall, blond, formerly famous actor (Tobias Andersen) strides into their lives and whips up Zizi’s dreams. But, natch, he can’t deliver everything that his presence promises. He has a past--which the jealous Leo laps up for blackmailing purposes.

The first act of Melanie Jones’ staging at the Odyssey is thrown askew by the presence of Soviet actress Mager-Borisoff, making her American debut as Nina. Rather than imparting an air of authenticity, Mager-Borisoff speaks Robert Daglish’s English translation with such a thick accent that Nina sounds as if she’s a foreigner. Not only are many of her lines difficult to decipher, but it’s hard to believe that this Nina makes her living as an actress, when she so mangles the common language.

Mager-Borisoff might make a fine Nina in a Soviet production; her interpretation of Nina as an aging Kewpie doll works well enough. But when she leaves the stage for much of the second act, it’s easier to concentrate on the play.

Millian’s Zizi looks as if she might indeed make the big time, if she doesn’t give up hope. Her eyes are as evocative as her words.

Leo’s words occasionally get in Mason’s way. Daglish eliminated some of the articles from Leo’s sentences: “You will throw me on scrap heap?” It makes Leo more of a caricature than necessary, but Mason at least makes him a vivid caricature. Andersen could use a bit more color; his character should still be dashing enough to ignite Zizi’s imagination.

Alan Abelew contributes a lovely comic fillip as a passing drunk; by giving this fellow the last words of the play, Roseba neatly steered away from a soapier effect.

Sergei Ponomarov’s set, lit by David A. Taylor, is a tribute to the ability of actors to brighten up the most dilapidated surroundings.

Performances at the Odyssey, 12111 Ohio Ave., Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m. Tickets: $12.50-$16.50; (213) 826-1626.