STAGE REVIEW : Fullerton College Lacks Breadth for Black Comedy ‘Red Noses’

Any play that has a blind juggler, a stuttering stand-up comic and a couple of dancers with club feet has at least four things to recommend it.

But that’s only the beginning in Peter Barnes’ strange and stimulating “Red Noses,” now at Fullerton College in an exuberant but ultimately shaky production. Barnes has also thrown sexy nuns, wise-cracking priests and a bunch of commedia dell’arte sight gags into his black comedy set in Medieval France.

It’s too bad director Michael Fields and his student cast doesn’t have the experience or breadth to pull it all off. Despite Fields’ efforts to infuse everything with the appropriate clownish impulses, the production lacks the necessary dexterity, both physical and otherwise. At times, you wonder if the young actors are fully aware of exactly what Barnes is attempting.

“Red Noses” was deemed blasphemous in some circles when the San Diego Repertory Theatre staged it in 1988. The play does challenge conventional views of the nature of God and what God wants of us and gets rough with the less savory aspects of organized religion. But it’s a thoughtful piece with a clear method. Anyway, where’s the strength in an institution if it can’t handle criticism?

Besides, the main thrust of “Red Noses” is that laughter can bring hope to dark lives. He puts this forward in the character of Father Flote (Cress Williams), a 14th-Century priest who receives inspiration from God to form a vaudevillian troupe during the Black Plague--the goal is to send the dying out laughing. A red rubber nose descends from heaven, and Flote is on his way, seeking converts to carry the message.

But they soon get into trouble. At first, cynical, political Pope Clement VI gives his support--he hopes Flote can keep the people occupied instead of questioning the church’s authority--but later he turns against the troupe. Their skits are so human, they’ve naturally become subversive.

Fields, who played Flote in the acclaimed San Diego production, certainly knows what the play is about. But it’s unfortunate that many of the points get blurred in the translation of the text to action.

‘RED NOSES’

A Fullerton College production of Peter Barnes’ comedy. Directed by Michael Fields. With Cress Williams, Paul R. Hagerty, Jeff Weeks, J. Robert Sutton, Benjamin P. Baird, Amanda T. DeMaio, David Campos, Ralph J. Aparicio Jr., Robert Dean Nunez, Mary Wilson, Robert McAdam, Kyle Jones, Jose Amado Lavarreda, Gregory Stanford Emerson, Anthony Gaglio, Barney W. Evans, Patti Cumby and Aimee Feeger. Set by Gil Morales. Lighting by Steve Pliska. Costumes by Mela Hoyt-Heydon. Makeup by Gary Christensen. Plays Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the campus’s Studio Theatre, 321 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton. Tickets: $5 to $7. (714) 871-8101.