TACKLING TIMELY TOPICS

Issues of conception, conservation and Northern Ireland share the stage in David Rudkin’s “Ashes,” opening Wednesday at the Zephyr Theatre.

“It says things that are important to me--and to the world,” said director Bradley White, who first mounted the play two years ago as a student project at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “It has serious things to say about where the world is heading. We’re so involved in what we know to be right that we don’t step back and see the damage we’re doing--to our forests, to the budget deficit, to Northern Ireland. And the screwing up we’re doing now is our heritage, our legacy to the future.”

On the surface, the play (which had its Los Angeles premiere in 1976 at the Mark Taper Forum with Michael Cristofer and Tyne Daly) tells of a couple’s frustrated efforts to conceive a child. But, emphasized White, “their sterility is a metaphor for the sterility of Northern Ireland, Vietnam and Nicaragua--wherever you like. Imperialism really is the root of all evil: we step into other people’s business, try to remedy their problems, alleviate our own guilt. Here, Colin and Anne are imperialistic with nature--they try to step outside its bounds--and nature always wins.

“What we’re doing is very much for the audience,” added the actor/director (recently seen as the fiance in “Come Back, Little Sheba” at the Los Angeles Theatre Center). “There’s no fourth wall; it’s intimate for both them and the actors. And yes, the political thing is important--but more important is the human story. That’s what interests me most. If people get the political sentiments, that’s icing on the cake, gravy on the potatoes.”

Et tu , Jules? “Julius Caesar,” a classic with timely ruminations on power and politics, kicks off the season Friday at the Grove Shakespeare Festival. “We’re definitely keeping it in period,” said director Jules Aaron. “The modern political resonances are so relevant, so clear and vivid, that they speak for themselves. To make it about Central America or Reagan would be beating you over the head.

“It speaks about conspiracy, the stupidity of jumping into a political stream where you can wade but not swim. There are no heroes, no villains. A group of people decide to take action (against Caesar), but they don’t have the political skill and sophistication. After (the murder), they stand there with bloody hands; they don’t know what to do. They’ve let their emotions lead them--and now they don’t have the savvy to cope with it.”

The set (by Cliff Faulkner) supports that “other-world” quality: “stark, symbolic images that physicalize the internal emotions of the characters. The stage is bracketed by a huge (12x20-foot) map--symbolic of what’s at stake geographically and politically. Then the map becomes Brutus’ tent, a nine-foot statue of Pompey. . . .

“The best part about doing this,” Aaron added, “is being outside in an amphitheater, conveying that open-air battlefield. It really is larger-than-life. Shakespeare has always felt very operatic to me, and this nicely approximates what the (relationship with) Elizabethan audiences must have been like.”

CRITICAL CROSSFIRE: Jerry Colker and Michael Rupert’s jubilant musical fantasy “Mail” (the story of mixed-up Alex Berkowitz, who returns from a self-imposed exile only to have his piled-up mail come to life), opened recently at the Pasadena Playhouse to some glowing reviews.

In this paper, Dan Sullivan found that “its strength as an entertainment package compensates to a large degree for its soft structure. This is the best-looking show that we’ve seen at the Pasadena Playhouse since it came back from the dead--a really world-class item.” Sullivan also had praise for actors Robert Mandan and Mara Getz, as well as director Andrew Cadiff, “who has encouraged this company to get under the text without forgetting that this is a song and dance show.”

From Lee Melville in Drama-Logue: “ ‘Mail’ is exceptional theater because its bright, witty, uncomplicated manner never assumes to be anything more than it is. More importantly, its insights are refreshing.” He also enjoyed the Gerry Hariton-Vicki Baral set, choreography, direction and acting ensemble--but reserved special praise for the leading man. “Michael Rupert may just be the best leading man around right now for musical theater and ‘Mail’ succeeds greatly due to his performance.”

Said Kathy O’Steen in Daily Variety, “This new musical has a lot going for it, namely a parade of fine songs and a well-executed production. It also touches on a lot of ‘80s dilemmas: coming to grips with responsibility, financial success versus artistic achievements, personal commitment. . . . Director Andrew Cadiff has tied all the songs and characters together in a quickly paced evening, but the pizazz of this show comes from Grover Dale’s choreography.”

And from Luaine Lee of the Pasadena Star-News: “A carload of unopened mail doesn’t seem like a likely subject for a musical. But Jerry Colker and Michael Rupert have synthesized such diverse epistles as electricity bills and a sweepstakes notice into a charming musical. . . . A superlative cast vivifies the fantasy.”