STAGE REVIEW : ‘Beyond Reasonable Doubt’ Guilty of Weak Plot Lacking in Suspense

“Beyond Reasonable Doubt,” which marked the playwrighting debut of British novelist Jeffrey Archer, had its U.S. premiere over the weekend in a Laguna Playhouse production at the Moulton Theatre. And it’s a potboiler.

Should there have been any doubt? Probably not. Archer’s huge output of best-selling sagas--”Kane and Abel,” “The Prodigal Daughter” and the rest--has never been prized for literary quality.

What is surprising, though, is that this courtroom drama turns out to be not so much a whodunit as a whydunit --and a tepid one at that, climaxing with a sentimental flourish instead of an unexpected twist.

The real mystery is that “Beyond Reasonable Doubt” set box-office records when it opened in London’s West End 2 1/2 years ago and has been on the boards there ever since.

In the first act, we get a lengthy taste of the Old Bailey, where Britain’s most distinguished criminal lawyer, Sir David Metcalfe, is on trial for the murder of Lady Millicent, his terminally ill wife. Details of the case unfold as prosecutor Anthony Blair-Booth, Sir David’s old rival, puts a parade of witnesses on the stand.

The police believed that Lady Millicent had died of cancer until her housekeeper turned up and accused Sir David of poisoning his wife with an overdose of her potentially lethal medicine. According to the housekeeper’s testimony, Sir David came home drunk, verbally threatened Lady Millicent and dropped the fatal pill into her tea.

The loyal family solicitor reluctantly reveals that the estate Sir David has inherited is worth 1 million. And the defendant concedes that at the time of his wife’s death, his broker was hounding him for several hundred thousand pounds to cover the margin on an ill-advised stock purchase.

It gives nothing away to note that the heart of the case actually lies beyond the circumstantial evidence in the relationship between Sir David and Lady Millicent. The housekeeper claims that it was less loving than it seemed, largely evident in Sir David’s nasty outbursts of temper. The solicitor testifies that it was a union of total mutual devotion.

The second act clarifies the nature of the marriage by taking us back before the trial to a dinner party at the couple’s home in Wimbledon, then leads us up to the death scene and provides a postscript to the trial. But the weak plot lacks suspense.

Moreover, the first act suffers from far too much procedural tedium--court jargon, repetitive hand-on-Bible oaths, judicial instruction on the law--while the second act strains for breeziness with clubby anecdotes, brittle chitchat and windy poeticizing.

Archer tries to incorporate some entertaining characters, writing ethnic and class types that audiences will recognize as transparent cliches. The judge is a chiding curmudgeon, the housekeeper a judgmental crank, the prosecutor an upper-class twerp. Lady Millicent, in addition to dying like a swan, is the perfect hostess. And Sir David, master orator among legal eagles, has a fondness for things Welsh--particularly Dylan Thomas.

On the whole, the Laguna production is well-dressed. It has white wigs and black robes in the Old Bailey and black ties and drink trays at Wimbledon. But the tone is bland, the players colorless. Most can’t even be taken for British.

The best performances are George Woods’ as Sir David, Betsy Paul’s as the housekeeper and David Paul’s as the solicitor.

P.S.: Would somebody please pull the plug on the hearts-and-flowers piano music?

‘BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT’

A Laguna Playhouse production of Jeffrey Archer’s play. Directed by Marthella Randall. With Chad Stewart, John Vernay, Jim Ryan, Todd Garrison, Ralph Pitt, George Woods, Betsy Paul, R. Hamilton Koch, David Paul, John Brennan, Catherine Courtney and Madoline Walters. Set and lighting by Robert Smith. Costumes by A.D. Foultz. Sound design by Stephen Shaffer. “Beyond Reasonable Doubt” runs through April 8 at the Moulton Theatre, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Curtain Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets: $11 through $14. Information: (714) 494-8022.