STAGE REVIEW : A Solid Effort, Savage Edge for ‘Red Ryder’

Mark Medoff’s “When Ya Comin’ Back, Red Ryder?” was one of the more disturbing plays to come out of the early 1970s.

The Obie award-winning drama (actually written in the late ‘60s but not produced until ‘73), about a handful of people abused by a drug-smuggling Vietnam vet in a disheveled roadside diner, stood in rough contrast to idealism and good vibrations of the era. By playing to our enduring fascination with violence, though, it made for dynamic theater.

The Orange Coast College Repertory Theatre, in a respectable treatment that makes up in solid effort what it lacks in finesse, has tapped into that air of savagery.

After a slow first scene, things pick up, and by the time Teddy, the brutal, nihilistic vet, shows up with his hippy girlfriend, the ride turns into a pretty unnerving one. The intimacy of the tiny Studio Theatre helps generate immediacy; even the furthest seat is no more than 10 feet away from the action.

As with most productions of “Red Ryder,” the success depends on the handling of Teddy, and director Bill Purkiss gets a menacing performance out of Ponzer Berkman. The portrayal is heavy with theatrical gestures--Berkman doesn’t do anything in a small way, whether he is ordering steak and eggs or fondling one of the women--but he is also startling, like an alarm going off repeatedly.

In its plotting, “Red Ryder” isn’t especially original: The notion of a dangerous stranger entering a quiet environment to create trouble has been a theme in movies and plays for a while. But Teddy isn’t just a bad boy letting off steam. Medoff has given him an eerie intelligence that cuts through his cruel perversity.

His victims couldn’t be more ready targets. Except for Stephen (Adam Purkiss), a kind of pseudo James Dean longing to get out of this one-diner town, they are civilized people, just getting by and not interested in making waves.

Angel (Kara Greene), the overweight waitress, is a simple girl who pines for romance. The gas station owner Lyle (David Scaglione) is old and thinks he deserves to be left alone. Clarisse (Alma C. Ferrera-Grand) and Richard (Nick Winkler) are stale sophisticates just passing through. It is their complacency that enrages Teddy.

At first, Teddy seems little more than an impolite wise guy, the type of loudmouth you smile at, hoping he will quiet down before your lunch hits the counter.

But the more Teddy gets away with, the more his ugliness increases. His insults become vicious, then he gets physical. Before long, he’s got the gun out and he’s eyeing the women. Everything gets desperate, and fast.

Although none of the performances matches Berkman’s, a couple approach it. Purkiss nicely conveys Stephen’s false bravado, which is exposed by Teddy in increasingly humiliating ways. And Greene’s Angel is an often touching portrait. Another plus here: Bill Purkiss’ and David Scaglione’s set, which captures the look of a grimy, time-worn cafe down to the greasy soot staining the ceiling.

‘WHEN YA COMIN’ BACK, RED RYDER?’

An Orange Coast College Repertory Theatre production of Mark Medoff’s drama. Directed by Bill Purkiss. With Ponzer Berkman, Adam Purkiss, David Scaglione, Jack Henriksen, Alma C. Ferrera-Grand, Nick Winkler and Cheryl Huggins. Set by Purkiss and David Scaglione. Lighting by Paul Beasley. Plays Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the campus’s Studio Theatre. Tickets: $4 and $5. (714) 432-5880.