STAGE REVIEW : Gay Son’s Life With Father in ‘Sum of Us’

The intention behind David Stevens’ play “The Sum of Us” is benevolent, the writing compassionate. It looks at the insulating effect of openness between a gay young man and his accepting father. It wants to excoriate a world that is unkind to those who do not play by conventional rules. It chooses a tiresome way to do it.

Drat. The new wrinkle here (and it is not unsubtle) is dad’s acceptance of his boy. Retired Harry Mitchell (Kenneth Mars) is a good sort. He’s not going to let his son Jeff’s sexual preferences stand in the way of his affection. He welcomes the young man’s lovers as part of the family. He likes getting to know them, though he makes clear, in several direct addresses to the audience, that he himself is a committed heterosexual--a widower with tender memories of his wife and a roving eye for the ladies.

So far, so good. Jeff (David Packer) is used to his dad’s ways, but is anyone else? Can Greg (Lance Baker), the new young man Jeff brings home for the night, handle such familial chumminess?

Harry’s oversolicitude is no different from that of any other meddling, well-intentioned parent. This is Amanda Wingfield wooing the gentleman caller in “The Glass Menagerie.” Jeff would no doubt be happier with a little less . . . approbation.

And there’s more: a blossoming romance between Harry and Joyce (Kate McGregor Stewart), a buxom divorcee he met through a dating service. Will Joyce be able to handle the news about Jeff if Harry ever manages to tell her?

These crisscrossing gamma rays take a toll we won’t divulge. It is at once exaggerated and transparent--a rather gratuitous device for making a point and tugging at our heartstrings. In other words, a dramaturgical cheat.

Stevens is the successful Australian writer/director best known in this country for the film “Breaker Morant,” which he co-wrote. This may partly be the reason one walks away from his play feeling that it would make a better movie. Kitchen-sink naturalism--where people eat dinner, take tea and talk on the telephone--diminishes theater’s possibilities. It’s a problem of form.

This A Director’s Theatre (ADT) production has been mounted at USC’s Stop Gap Theatre, but don’t let the setting fool you. It is not a college production. Its professionalism and production values (a deliberately drab set by D. Martyn Bookwalter, deliberately dingy lighting by Michael Gilliam and apt costuming by Julie Weiss) are immaculate. Following the dialogue, though, is mildly complicated by such well-executed Australian accents that they sometimes collide with incoherence.

Mars is tops as ol’ Harry, an unpretentious fellow with enough homespun wisdom to have a good grasp of reality, and enough humor to get him through it. Packer is equally impressive, providing in Jeff a desirable contrast--skittish, decent, fond of his dad, uncertain about how to handle his life or pursue happiness within it.

As boyfriend Greg and as the flirtatious Joyce, Baker and Stewart, respectively, have less well-defined characters which they nevertheless deliver with a good deal of conviction. The thanks for that probably goes to director Jack Hofsiss, who has staged “The Sum of Us” with a notable respect for text. Perhaps too much respect.

Stevens writes a talky play, trusting more to words than to character which, in theater, can be a near-fatal flaw. Some of the more questionable coincidences in the second half, for instance, would benefit from some healthy questioning and might be much improved under a fearless knife.

Hofsiss, a Tony award-winner for his direction of “The Elephant Man,” has adopted a curiously non-intrusive style. Can it be remedied? One would hope so. Since this is a world premiere, there is clearly still time for changes and this sheltered USC venue is a good place to make them.

Worth it, too, because, shortcomings or no, this “Sum of Us” remains the strongest production in ADT’s 10-month history--the first in what executive producer Dorothy Lyman expects to be an ongoing association with USC’s drama department.

Performances at 3730 Watt Way on the USC campus run Thursdays though Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7:30 p.m., until Sept. 3. Tickets: $15; (213) 465-8434.