STAGE REVIEWS / OPEN FESTIVAL : Textor’s ‘Birthright’ Isn’t Satiric, Just Silly

A press release calls “Birthright,” at the Attic Theatre, a “dark comedy which satirizes the blind pursuit of wealth.” Playwright/director Douglas Textor is traveling in Mamet country, but unfortunately the map he’s following is by Dr. Seuss.

His play can’t really qualify as satire because it’s miles down the road from the county seat of Satire, which is the town of Reality. Nor is it absurdist as the author claims; again, only reality can be made absurd. It’s just silly, and doesn’t begin to take potshots at the real world of high finance, shady or not.

Textor does pay homage to some better known absurdist playwrights. As in Christopher Durang’s work, his second act doesn’t have anywhere to go, and like John Guare he throws in wild and crazy to cover lack of characterization. Like John Ford Noonan, his focus wanders, but at least Textor’s command of English is his own--”Love is an anachronism for lesser mortals.”

The author’s direction is as silly as his play, and even confounds the talents of Patrick Washburn as the non-hero, who looks as though he has some comic flair, and Carolynn Stevens as the careerist who always bests him, who almost manages to make some of Textor’s lines sound as though they have some meaning.

At 6562 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood; Fridays through Sundays, 8 p.m.; ends Oct. 14. $12; (213) 462-9720.