STAGE REVIEWS : Depth Falters in Fullerton’s ‘Curse,’ Golden West’s ‘Rain’

‘Rain” is nothing if not atmospheric. First, there’s the setting: lush and soggy Pago-Pago, where metal rusts in minutes and fighting off decay is a daily chore. Then there’s the humid relationship between Roaring ‘20s party-girl Sadie Thompson and the repressed religious tyrant Rev. Davidson--they should create an atmosphere of attitudes in collision, the secular versus the spiritual, the wanton against the moralistic.

Golden West College’s revival of John Colton’s and Clemence Randolph’s 1922 adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s popular short story clicks on the first count: Steven Wolff Craig’s set of a near-rotting hotel is a vision of mottled browns and greens; it looks corrupt and lost. There’s a steady drizzle just outside the porch, adding to the sense that this is an outpost far away from the clean, well-lighted places of civilization.

But director Charles Mitchell’s interpretation slips and skids when it comes to Sadie and Davidson. We get an idea of the conflict, that there’s a battle of visions going on here, but it’s a surface reflection, more style than anything. “Rain,” an anachronistic melodrama even on its best day, needs special handling to bring out the shadings, and we don’t get enough of them at Golden West.

In “Rain,” a disparate group of people find themselves stuck in the decrepit South Seas hotel for a few weeks, during which time a few dynamics unfold, most centering on Sadie and Davidson. Sadie comes in like a storm, whooping it up and having a grand time, all dressed in flash and trash. Davidson comes in gripping his Bible, a man offended by having to live among mortals.

At Golden West, Jill Cary Martin goes at Sadie with game energy and it’s almost sufficient to keep us involved. The failure comes from not fully approaching the motivations of this arch character--a woman with a devilish past who has probably seen and done it all. Martin offers exasperation and verve but little insight.

As Davidson, Stephen F. Silva offers not much more than stiffness. His rigid approach communicates the reverend’s conservative bent, but hardly any of his messianic, even Fascistic core. More disappointing, the sexual tension that’s supposed to motivate his compulsion to dominate Sadie is mostly missing. Silva obviously is walking a tightrope here, trying not to be overt, but there have to be more signs than this.

‘RAIN’

A Golden West College production of John Colton and Clemence Randolph’s adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s story. Directed by Charles Mitchell. With Jill Cary Martin, Stephen F. Silva, Rebekah Ledbetter, Rubin Rivera, Jennifer Marie Boudrea, Jeffrey A. May, Alfonso Trozzi, Vai Schierholtz, Gino England, Ann Fornorola, Larry Cardwell, Debbie Caceres-Gerber, H. Charles Dinaburg and Eric Schiffer. Set by Steven Wolff Craig. Lighting by Leslie Barry. Costumes by Susan Thomas Babb. Sound by David B. Edwards. Makeup by Karen Stagg Dvorak. Plays Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at the campus’s Mainstage, 15744 Golden West St., Huntington Beach. Tickets: $5 to $7 (714) 895-8378.