STAGE REVIEW : ‘Down an Alley’: Average But Entertaining Comedy

Anyone looking for an evening’s entertainment will find it at the Pasadena Playhouse’s Balcony Theatre. No less--if no more.

It’s not that Australian playwright Warwick Moss’ “Down an Alley Filled With Cats,” which opened over the weekend, isn’t clever enough. It’s too clever. In reality it’s a minor two-character comedy thriller laced with snappy humor that develops a few too many twists of plot. But if you’re the kind of theatergoer who got a charge out of “Sleuth,” “Down an Alley” should be down your alley.

Structurally, there is nothing new or unconventional here. The unexpected is quickly part of the expectation. Moss has built a naturalistic play that takes place in a musty third-floor bookseller’s office in a section of Sydney that is being torn down. That’s the insular setting--its cluttered bookshelves and dirty windows handsomely delivered by designers Deborah Raymond and Dorian Vernacchio, with some well-engineered sound effects by Jon Gottlieb.

The author presents antagonists/protagonists that are distinct and clear: an older immigrant bookseller from Poland with the unlikely name of Timothy Timmony (made up on arrival down under) and his younger visitor, a roustabout named Simon who’s after a certain book for its cover.

The two end up being together longer than either had planned and become entangled in a battle of wits and one-upmanship in a calculated pursuit of mutual treasure (we won’t divulge the plot). The predictable result, of course, is that nothing that passes between the solitary Old-World bookworm and the street-smart, seat-of-the-pants adventurer can be predicted.

Moss has gone about the business of creating a mystery with impeccable neatness. His inventions are coiled tight as a spring, but also bend to a few cheap theatricks (an obligatory drunken scene and Simon, deprived early of most of his clothing, playing much of the rest of the play in a jacket and cowboy boots and not much else).

Interest flags somewhat when it becomes obvious that the playwright is also one-upping himself--finding additional twists. By the middle of the second act, the ingenuity becomes an end in itself, a pyrotechnical display of inventiveness to be admired and endured more than enjoyed.

“Down an Alley,” however, ends on a wise and amusing note, which makes up for the play’s tendency to show off. Moss may have overdone things a bit but the actors--Larry Gelman as the old codger and Tom Wiggin as the urban cowboy--ensure that they don’t get out of hand. And while the production could be brisker, it’s directed with a light enough touch by Peter Askin to make the experience pleasantly unpretentious.

Wiggin’s Clint Eastwoodish soldier of fortune is all swagger and snappy talk delivered in a well-honed but entirely coherent Aussie accent (“G’ day, mate”). Gelman plays his Pole Old World to the marrow--slow to move, accented, canny and a lot smarter than he lets on. The physical contrast between them (Wiggin tall and angular; Gelman stocky and round) and the superiority of their craft make up for “Down an Alley’s” ultimately superficial stakes. It may be no more than a theatrical game, but it’s a game decently played.

Performances at 39 S. El Molino Ave. in Pasadena run Tuesdays through Fridays at 8:30 p.m., Saturdays at 5 and 8:30 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m., indefinitely. Tickets: $20-$25; (818) 356-PLAY.