STAGE REVIEW : Evil Defanged in ‘Master of Discipline’ at Beyond Baroque

Zastrozzi. Evil genius. Indstructible force. Agent of pure violence.

Zastrozzi, Saddam Hussein--how can anyone today seeing George F. Walker’s 1977 play, “Zastrozzi: Master of Discipline,” not make the connection? Especially when Victor, servant of Zastrozzi’s artist rival, Verezzi, tells him that men like him have no place in the impending, “civilized” new century?

Even if Alec Doyle’s production at Beyond Baroque doesn’t intend the reference, the audience sees it, and can’t help but walk away sensing a trivialized variation on a meaningful subject. How can any mere play match the current, globally televised battle?

By not making it any mere play.

For “Zastrozzi” to work on our guts, we have to feel the master working his way into our nether-regions, just as the great evil geniuses of past art have done. Like Iago in “Othello” or Spica in “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover,” we can’t know where they’ll strike next. We feel as a victim would.

Walker, though, goes out of his way to defang Zastrozzi at every opportunity, and Peter Davies archly takes on the role as almost a comic type. Almost , because he also has one foot in Jacobean tragedy--a style that this simple revenge tale seems ideally suited for.

This confusion rules play and production, blurring any line between parody and morality play. Which is strange, since, as we said, Walker’s plot (adapted from Percy Shelley’s novel) couldn’t be simpler: Zastrozzi aims to kill Verezzi for the murder of his mother.

More deeply, Zastrozzi might be seen as a very bloody variation on the post-modern theme of society at the end of history, which the madman wants to rise above. Like Hitler, or Saddam, he has created a myth to suit himself. But, as in his “Nothing Sacred,” Walker undercuts any serious idea with dumb hijinks or one-liners (a victim, Julia, frets that he will rape and murder her, “though not necessarily in that order.”)

The comedy always feels like a pose, never bubbling out of the play’s insides. The actors are encouraged to press the pose to the limit, especially Jace Kent’s Verezzi. Kara Miller invests her Julia with real sympathy, but it’s by sheer actor’s force, not by Walker’s design. We could do with more force, though, from Dan Speaker’s restrained fight choreography, moodily lit by Jene Youtt.

“Zastrozzi,” Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, Saturdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends March 10. $8; (213) 822-3006. Running time: 2 hours.