STAGE REVIEW : FLAWS FAIL TO HOUND ‘INSPECTOR’

If theater lends itself to a sport, surely it is critic-baiting. What other hapless breed can playwrights mock with such cheerful impunity? And what playwright can do a better job of it than one who was once a critic himself--Tom Stoppard?

Stoppard, a three-time Tony Award-winner, is in his usual fine comic fettle in “The Real Inspector Hound,” playing at the Marquis Public Theatre through Sept. 5. Never at a loss for complications, Stoppard here concocts a tale in which the audience watches critics watching a mystery that the critics ultimately get suckered into taking part in--much to their peril.

At the center of the story is Moon, the doleful put-upon second-string theater critic who only appears in the absence of Higgs.

He longs for the day when Higgs will disappear and he will at last come into his own. His mind is barely on the show he is supposedly watching. Deep in his own ruminations, he dreams about being quoted, as he was once in a theatrical advertisement, for calling “unforgettable” some show whose name he no longer remembers.

Director Jennifer Myers Johnson does her best to keep the play moving nicely. However, her husband, James B. Johnson, with whom she worked so well in “Vinegar Tom,” here seems oddly miscast as the doleful Moon. Johnson’s performance lacks tension--and a consistent English accent. As the center of the action, he deals the play a staggering blow.

Fortunately, Richard Gilman’s performance as the critic, Birdboot, keeps the injury from proving mortal. Mincing, smirking and devotedly in love with himself, Gilman’s critic is the perfectly smug, self-righteous sort of fellow who brags about his enlarged reviews (which he carries around in color slides) and does not think twice about compromising his critical opinion for a date with a pretty actress.

Jim Benton’s set effectively and attractively establishes a clear boundary between the critics’ seats and that of the staged murder-mystery play within the play. And, just as importantly, at the right time, this boundary lends itself to a clean crossover.

The murder mystery is naturally, being Stoppard, a parody of the genre and funny by itself. For the most part, the mystery cast pulls this off well.

Robert Blomgren sparkles as the sinister, invalid Magnus Muldoon. Ellery Brown, who did the light and sound design, does a fine job of making Muldoon’s off-stage wheelchair crash regularly down the stairs.

Betty Matthews, Paty Sipes and Gregory Daun sizzle as the show’s romantic triangle. All nattily dressed by J.S. Myers, they play off each other with flair.

Steven Soden is less successful as Inspector Hound. He projects an uncertainty that seems to stem from a lack of ease with his supposedly English accent. (Given the uncertainty with which most of the cast handles the accents, it would have been preferable to have dispensed with the accents altogether. They would not have been missed.)

Similarly, Dorthy Jean Finneran does not quite cut it as the maid, Mrs. Drudge. Where a crotchety, elderly old woman is called for, Finneran looks and sounds like a young woman with drawn-on wrinkles and gray spray paint in her hair.

Mark Petrich, however, is right on target as the radio announcer who keeps Muldoon Manor abreast of the mysterious suspect roaming ever closer to the manor door. And an award for patience should be given to Tim West and Dean Hillgeman who alternate as the dead body that lies unnoticed on the floor through much of the play.

After this show, the Johnsons, who did such excellent work on both “Vinegar Tom” and “Talking With . . . “ (in which they reversed directing and acting roles”) for the Marquis, will leave for Irvine where James Johnson will pursue a degree in theater arts and Jennifer Johnson plans to teach.

“The Real Inspector Hound” is a funny, if flawed, show--and a nice way for this talented couple to say goodby.

“THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND” By Tom Stoppard. Director, Jennifer Myers Johnson. Set, Jim Benton. Light and sound, Ellery Brown. Costumes, J.S. Myers. With James B. Johnson, Richard Gilman, Dorthy Jean Finneran, Mark Petrich, Gregory Daun, Betty Matthews, Paty Sipes, Robert Blomgren, Seven Soden, Tim West and Dean Hillgeman. At 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, through Sept. 5. At the Marquis Public Theatre, 3717 India St., San Diego.