STAGE REVIEW : ‘Playing With Fire’ Fails to Ignite at 2nd Stage

The idea of an August Strindberg Society of Los Angeles is better than its reality. The group’s staging of Strindberg’s seldom-seen one-act, “Playing With Fire,” at 2nd Stage, tries to maintain the playwright’s intended comic lightness, but simply hasn’t the actors to stoke the fire beneath.

As with “The Stronger” and several lesser works, “Playing With Fire” depicts a love triangle in which the dominant players aren’t at all obvious, with each in a prison of their own making. “Fire” is ideal miniaturized Strindberg, in which life is a comi-tragic torture chamber, but there isn’t a moment of genuine pain in Paul Fagen’s production. This is Strindberg for the salon, not the public.

“Playing With Fire,” 2nd Stage, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 and 8 p.m. Ends Feb. 10. $12; (213) 466-1767. Running time: 1 hr. 10 mins.