STAGE REVIEW : OCC’s ‘Boys’ Life’ Proves Merely Exasperating

At one point in Howard Korder’s “Boys’ Life,” Jack says he handles most of life’s bumps by thinking of Ray Charles. Someone such as Ray would always be cool, always do the right thing, no matter what the dilemma.

A nice role model, Ray Charles, but he would probably say “hit the road” to Jack and his pals for the way they behave, especially with women. Jack, Don and Phil, Korder’s thin impressions of arrested male development fired by hormonal fuel, tend to do the wrong thing as they drink too much beer, smoke a lot of dope, joke about breasts and hit on most of the women they encounter.

They’re pretty silly, really, so it’s hard taking them seriously. The thing is, Korder anxiously wants us to take them seriously. He wants us to see them as symbols of the male predicament.

“Boys’ Life,” now in a wobbly production at Orange Coast College, is generally an immature play about immature men. Korder has shown that he can be an intelligent and dynamic writer--his “Search and Destroy” had impact in its recent run at South Coast Repertory--but this 1988 drama is often a shallow experience.

You can see where Korder is trying to take “Boys’ Life.” Growing up to be a man is a tough business, with all that sexual conditioning to deal with. Should we be gentle, loving guys (as Don apparently chooses when he acquiesces to a normal life and gets married) or perfect heels? Hey, aren’t men designed to be predators, or at least beasts?

Jack (Sharr White) understands the irony too well. He’s got a wife and a kid and an overcoat of cynicism that weighs him and everybody else way down. Jack’s still attractive, though, so he has an easy time with women. He’s just filling space; Jack hates himself, so he might as well take it out on others.

Phil (Greg Guy) is a wimp, the opposite of take-charge, can-do Jack. He persuades women to sleep with him by whining. He lies to himself and to them. He’s full of guilt for being such a weak creep. Phil should feel bad--he actually has sex with a date while she is passed out, drunk.

Don (James Rurup) is like Jack but he’s also like Phil. He wants to take it easy and stroll through life. Responsibility is like grit in the bed for Don, until he meets a strong-willed sculptor. She helps him become an adult. Out of gratitude, or maybe fear, he decides to marry her.

A lot of the time during “Boys’ Life” you want to grab these boys by the collar and give them a shake. Hey, snap out of it! Come on, grow up! That’s when it almost works. But the play doesn’t take us further, we don’t see where these three are going. They’re exasperating, and so is “Boys’ Life.”

At OCC, there’s an air of appropriateness in having a college-age cast take on Korder’s characters. The John Ferzacca-directed actors naturally convey the self-absorption inherent within the theme, but they don’t fully evoke the roles’ dimensions that might overcome some of the script’s weaknesses. Too many single notes being played over and over again.

The performances have consistency but not enough of the contradiction that should result when playing characters out of touch with themselves. Rurup, with his low-wattage, fairly internalized approach, comes the closest to embodying the paradox.

‘BOYS’ LIFE’

An Orange Coast College production of Howard Korder’s play. Directed by John Ferzacca. With Sharr White, James Rurup, Greg Guy, Daniel J. Combs, Shannon Cernich, Alma C. Ferrera-Grand, Angela Sanders, Stacey Stapleton and Elizabeth Hoffmann. Set by David Scaglione. Lighting by Brock Cilley. Music by David Yazbek. Plays Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. through March 4 in the campus Drama Lab, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Tickets: $5.50 to $7. (714) 432-5880.