STAGE REVIEW : ‘Marriage’ Weds Durang’s Earlier Themes : Playwright’s caustic sendup of traditional mores covers little new ground and Saddleback College production misses some of its subtleties.

There was some uneasy seat shifting and a few frowns at the opening of Christopher Durang’s “The Marriage of Bette and Boo” at Saddleback College on Friday. But nobody walked out, unlike at Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse during the recent run of Durang’s “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You.”

Oh, there were a few post-performance titters--one woman turned to her husband and said, “Silly, wasn’t it? But why did they have to make such fun of religion?” A faint echo of the near-hysterical protests that accompanied “Sister Mary.”

To be sure, Durang does sprinkle a bit of acid over rigid Catholic dogma (especially the notions of sin and guilt) in “Bette and Boo,” but it’s a mild dousing compared to “Sister Mary,” which, for the record, is more a criticism of intellectual tyranny than a thoughtless slap at religion.

“Bette and Boo” borrows from “Sister Mary” (first produced in 1979) and another of Durang’s better comedies, “Baby With the Bathwater,” his 1983 satire about parenthood and family. At its best, “Bette and Boo” (1985) gives us the boldly caustic sendups of contemporary society Durang is known for. At its worst, however, this is a redundancy--a rehash of themes he explored more cogently in the earlier plays.

At Saddleback, director Lynn Wells shows she grasps Durang’s quirky style, which distorts the commonplace for both effect and message. Wells communicates Durang’s disturbed energy and brings in a nice touch or two of her own--the clear masks in the family portrait scenes give an appropriately alienated feel--but the pacing was unsteady Friday.

As with much of Durang’s work, the surface plot is simple, the interior dark and tangled. Bette (Sue Elizabeth Torrent) and Boo (Jerry Groble) get married and move in the right direction, at least at the outset. They have a son, Matt (Michael Gene Brown), and dream of domestic bliss. Then things get odd. Then they get ugly.

Bette keeps having more babies, all stillborn. Boo drinks constantly. Matt (much like the son in “Baby With the Bathwater”) seems dysfunctional, a product of their craziness. The couple’s parents are nuts, menaces, idiots; sometimes all three: Boo’s dad, Karl (Carlos Romero), mentally pistol-whips his wife, Soot (Linda Yeazel), who is a giggling mutation of motherhood. Bette’s folks aren’t much better. Her sisters are goofy too.

With this array of cockeyed characters, you’d better have refined acting or you risk missing the subtleties of Durang’s arguments against traditional mores. Unfortunately, it’s a mixed bag at Saddleback; the strongest portrayals are offered by the relaxed, snide Romero, the unnervingly perky Yeazel and Joseph Bass as a harried comedian of a priest.

But Torrent makes the mistake of approaching Bette as merely a cartoon cutout (maybe she was impressed by Wally Huntoon’s cardboardish, iridescent set) without much resonance. There’s more to the character than stark, unlayered emotions; Bette is sensational but not superficial. As for Boo, Groble needs to vivify the role. The way he is now, it’s unclear how we’re suppose to feel about him.

‘THE MARRIAGE OF BETTE AND BOO’

A Saddleback College production of Christopher Durang’s play. Directed by Lynn Wells. With Sue Elizabeth Torrent, Cary McLean, N. Leland Wayne, Jeanne Thomas, Amy Young, Jerry Groble, Carlos Romero, Linda Yeazel, Michael Gene Brown, Joseph Bass and Scott Bryant. Set by Wally Huntoon. Lighting by Kevin Cook. Costumes by Charles Castagno. Plays Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. through Dec. 16 at the campus’ Studio Theatre, 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo. Tickets: sold out. Information: (714) 582-4656.