STAGE REVIEW : One-Acts Attack Apartheid

Two one-acts at West Coast Ensemble come out of South Africa’s painful and mean-spirited adherence to apartheid.

Charles Fourie’s “Big Boys,” adapted and directed by Paul Van Zyl, contrasts two teen-age prisoners, one black and one white, with their keepers. When the play focuses on the youngsters, played with heartfelt earnestness by Philip Nawab Day and Randall Slavin, it says a lot about the darkness of South Africa’s vision of itself. Clyde Talley II and Patrick Pankhurst as the older men just barely overcome the pamphleteering tone that saps the play’s strength.

“Still Born,” by Van Zyl and Andrew Buckland, is a moving confrontational drama setting a bitter veteran against a younger man about to enter the army. Its power is in its simplicity as an anti-war play only peripherally about its specific locale.

Jon Stafford as the vet and Rocco Vienhage as the innocent who sidesteps his assaults, give exceptional performances under Claudia Jaffee’s sage direction. The vet’s battle fantasy scene would be more frightening confined to center stage rather than meandering through the theater, but Jaffee has a firm grip on the text.

At 6240 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Mondays through Wednesdays, 8 p.m., indefinitely. $10; (213) 871-1052.