‘Uncle Hem’ at Burbage Theatre; ‘Eden Court’ at the Gene Dynarski; ‘Ubu the King’ at Al’s Bar; ‘This Child’s Family’ at Celebration

Uncle Hem is coming for a visit! Mum is on a demon cleaning streak. Tiny Candy is coloring a greeting card, and teen-age Clematis is dolling herself up. Mild-mannered Dad wants to read the paper before Hem arrives; college boy Will doesn’t know what all the fuss is about.

It’s a typical suburban family crisis on a typical Friday the 13th. What’s wrong with this picture? Everything.

In Lee Wochner’s “Uncle Hem” at the Burbage Theatre, the family is a Thurber nightmare put out to gestate in Eastern European Expressionism and come to bloom in the fertile mind of the author. It’s a striking piece under the direction of Gary Guidinger, who treats it as a cartoon, filling in the colors of Gary Grasso’s comic-strip set.

Teresa Frost’s Mum is a large pearl of a stereotype whose “arguments are based on personal authority.” Charlie Dell’s Dad and Clay Crosby’s Will are strongly drawn images, and Joleen Lutz and Cathy Cahn are charming brats in the style of the production.

The play is not as simplistic as it looks, even with its frightening final twist. The Brechtian alienation of the treatment, which says we must not feel, only listen intellectually, paints the play in primary colors. But the writing hints at a depth that might warrant vastly different treatment. What if it were done with the murky hesitancy of Pinter or the naturalistic madness of Orton? Another play might be hiding behind this mask. Wochner is a playwright to watch.

At 2330 Sawtelle Blvd., Thursdays through Saturdays, 8:30 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m., until Oct . 29. Tickets: $14; (213) 478-0879.

‘Eden Court’

Bonnie Duncan has more Elvis Presley artifacts than Graceland. Even the front window shade in her Eden Court trailer home contains the King’s portrait. This doesn’t bother her husband Shroeder much. What does bother him is that she has never grown up.

At 30, he’s having a pretty rough time growing up himself, lying awake at night listening to the clock tick. What’s he going to do when he “runs out of ticks?” Murphy Guyer’s much-produced play about the 30s crisis, Shroeder’s in particular, has a lot of yearning and laughter, but not much meat.

This production at the Gene Dynarski, under the direction of Alice Burgess, doesn’t have enough variation in the rhythms of the scenes to give it the dramatic shape it needs, but some of the performances make up for the production’s evenness.

Jay Fraley finds depth and touching vulnerability in Shroeder’s little-boy-lost search for stability and his best buddy Carl, lost in his own obsessive randiness, is joyfully captured by William Martin Brennan. Ashley Rout and Melissa Berger are good as the bimbotic wife and her sexist friend.

At 5600 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, Thursdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m., until Oct . 22. Tickets: $14; (213) 878-5541.

‘Ubu the King’

Director Sean Fenton hasn’t tried to update Alfred Jarry’s “Ubu the King,” and that’s a big plus for this revival at Al’s Bar. The temptation is great to make a piece like this pertinent and meaningful in today’s context. It’s pertinent enough in its own context of political sham and power struggle.

First produced in 1896, “Ubu” caused riots, not so much because of its comment on current events in Europe, but because it was the first so-called avant-garde play ever, a fin de siecle media event. Fenton re-creates that moment in theater history faithfully and treats “Ubu” with the respect--or disrespect--it deserves.

Jarry’s play doesn’t require great acting. Its effects are its message. Michael Morrissey and Marie Capitti as Pere and Mere Ubu have the style and background to bring the production to life. They play on the sharp edges beautifully. Lucia’s costumes and Gary Ellenberg’s garish Dadaist wall paintings help place it in perspective.

At 305 S. Hewitt St., Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 p.m., through Nov . 1. Tickets: $5; (213) 680-3370.

‘This Child’s Family’

Single parenting by choice, particularly in the case of homosexuals, becomes a controversial alternative in the radically shifting mores of modern society. The subject is considered, but not very much is done with it, in Amy Rubin’s “This Child’s Family” at the Celebration Theatre.

Audrey and Sada are lovers and have been talking about having a baby for some time. Finally, Sada, through artificial insemination, becomes pregnant and the pair decides to make the announcement at their annual Thanksgiving dinner, a dramatic bombshell to lay bare the psychic wounds in this “family” of lesbians.

But the bombshell is almost unnoticed in Rubin’s play, which details only the getting together and breaking up of the various couples around the table. No one gives more than a passing glance at the wisdom of bringing this child into the world and all the act’s ramifications. The subject is still to be explored.

In spite of lively and knowing direction by Michelle Mindlin and generally good performances (pointedly by Rachel Todd and Pam Raines as the expectant couple and Andrea M. Thompson as Sada’s best friend), “This Child’s Family” seems little more than another version of “Last Summer at Bluefish Cove.”

At 426 N. Hoover St., Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m., until Oct . 29. Tickets: $12-$15; (213) 876-4257.