STAGE REVIEW : Compromise Waters Down Durang’s Wit

The Resident Theatre Company’s production of Christopher Durang’s “Beyond Therapy” offers a case-study in compromise in the theater.

This time around, Durang’s nasty appraisal of the state of personal relationships is set in the early 21st Century but still is meant to be symbolic of our generation.

The Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton, where “Beyond Therapy” is staged, isn’t used to such goings-on. Like most community theaters, typical seasons have avoided confronting subscribers with controversy--the themes (homosexuality and promiscuity, among others) in Durang’s black comedy aren’t often explored.

Tom Blank, the play’s director, believes that it’s about time for the Fullerton-based RTC and the Muckenthaler to take a few chances. But in the same breath, he admits that his handling of Durang is a compromise designed to put the writer’s words and attitudes on stage, but in a way most palatable to the audience.

Blank has to be admired for wanting to move in a more challenging direction. Trouble is, his approach, while capturing the essence of “Beyond Therapy,” dilutes the acid that’s supposed to seep through. Durang, a writer of uneven talents, is all about shock and offense, but here his vaguely subversive notions don’t always register.

The production’s attempt at accessibility primarily affects the play’s tone. Very little of the frank dialogue has been altered or excised, but the delineation of characters comes with the broadest of comic strokes that reach for guffaws rather than knowing grins.

While working on the play’s pacing, Blank said he felt compelled to have big laughs come often enough to keep the audience watching, despite the provocations. The results are, for the most part, overly wild characterizations.

Case in point: After we meet Prudence and Bruce (Carol Barbee and Patrick Rowe), the lonely neurotics who embark on a bizarre relationship after answering personal ads in the newspaper, we’re introduced to her therapist (Steve Porter), a sexually dysfunctional sleazeball.

Porter’s therapist, with his rayon Melrose-Avenue duds and an unrequited desire to bed Prudence, is all leers, groping and innuendo. He gets lots of laughs, but he’s a whoopee-cushion of a gag. “Beyond Therapy” isn’t the subtlest comedy, but it is more pungent and complicated than that.

This show works best during the scenes between Prudence and Bruce, especially their first meeting when Bruce reveals too much of his twisted self and Prudence reveals too little. Barbee shines, infusing Prudence with the needed cloud of bemusement (which often slips into numbed disgust) that hangs over everything she does. The fidgety, self-conscious Rowe reacts nicely to what she’s all about.

Bruce’s male lover (Bruce proudly calls himself a bisexual) is given a clever reading by Carlos Lacamara, an actor who has mastered the mortified take. It’s a fairly flouncing portrayal, but not over-baked.

As for the setting (the year 2021), it doesn’t really hurt the play, but neither does it add much. Besides the obvious point that finding love is sure to remain a difficult business, even in a Brave New World, there isn’t any relevance to the decision. Of course, it does give Mela Hoyt-Heydon the opportunity to dress the men (but not the women for some reason) in semi-futuristic outfits, while allowing sound designer Brad Williams the chance to use a few spacey noises. Gil Morales’ revolving Tomorrowland-like set, although crowded, is an adept solution to the play’s needs.

‘BEYOND THERAPY’

A Resident Theatre Company production of Christopher Durang’s comedy. Directed by Tom Blank. With Patrick Rowe, Carol Barbee, Steve Porter, Jean Brosang, Carlos Lacamara and Nick Boicourt. Set by Gil Morales. Costumes by Mela Hoyt-Heydon. Lighting by Steven Pliska. Sound by Brad Williams. Plays Tuesday through Sunday at 8:15 p.m. through July 20 at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1201 W. Malvern Ave., Fullerton. Tickets: $12 to $22. (714) 992-7432.