STAGE REVIEW : A Timely and Gutsy Look at Censorship

The timing couldn’t be better for Mac Wellman’s newest play, “7 Blowjobs,” now in a stylish world premiere by Sledgehammer Theatre.

If you aren’t yet numbed from watching the Senate committee’s grilling of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill, the law professor accusing him of sexual harassment, check out Wellman’s view on why certain senators take the high and mighty stands they do.

They’ve got their eyes on reelection. And they are distracting the public from their own foibles.

Wellman’s ostensible targets are the political figures whom the playwright deems responsible for blocking the National Endowment for the Arts grants to performance artists Karen Finley, Holly Hughes, Tim Miller and John Fleck last year.

He even dedicates the play to those he sees as the culprits: Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), the Rev. Donald Wildmon, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Long Beach) and the Rev. Pat Robertson. He calls them “the Four Harebrained Horsemen of Our Contemporary Cornball Apocalypse.”

In “7 Blowjobs,” Wellman simplifies his attack to one senator and one evangelist. The play is set in the office of fictitious Sen. Bob, who receives a package of seven sexually explicit photographs. His three-person staff takes the first stab at trying to figure out exactly what these pictures are. Then Bob and a television evangelist named Tom examine them. Then they all have to figure out where they came from and what to do about them.

It’s a clever piece of work with some very funny moments, but because this is a satire and Wellman never makes a secret of his point of view, there isn’t a whole lot of suspense about what is going to happen.

Also, Wellman has an unfortunate tendency to have his story meander and his thinly drawn characters repeat themselves. Without more ideas to flesh out in this 90-minute, one-act piece, shorter would definitely be better.

Still, with judicious cuts, clarifications about the senator’s mysterious son and some insight into why the senator is so obsessed with homosexuals, Sledgehammer could have a terrific piece of black humor on its hands.

Certainly one couldn’t ask more from the performers and the designers.

Scott Feldsher, artistic director of Sledgehammer, provided the taut direction. Robert Brill, the resident designer whose work has been seen at the Old Globe Theatre, the La Jolla Playhouse and the San Diego Repertory Theatre, turns in yet another brilliant set: The senator’s office is a white rectangular box with an off-center interior design, a half-hidden portrait of George Washington that moves, mysteriously, across the wall, and artfully placed dioramas of the Senate building and the Washington monument that establish the larger context.

Douglas Jacobs, who takes a break from his duties as artistic director of the San Diego Rep to play Sen. Bob, masterfully drives the piece as the pragmatic, cold-blooded and hard-hearted legislator with an agenda.

Brian Salmon, who always sets off fireworks in semi-crazed character parts, outdoes himself as the Rev. Tom, who inveighs against the “vile photos of unnatural acts, capable of rendering a full-grown man happy.” Bruce McKenzie, who has a gymnastic ability for physical comedy, does a remarkable number as the senator’s anxious legislative assistant: When the phone rings, he leaps on the long conference table, slides on his stomach, gathering up the photos, then slides right off the end of it into a somersault.

Sandra L’Italien, who plays the Ivy League administrative aide, is particularly funny in her angry asides about how she hates being asked to do what she sees as secretarial chores, and Susan Gelman is knockout-gorgeous as the secretary, Dot, who knows better than anyone else what is really going on.

Ashley York Kennedy did the fine lighting, modulating from day to night and from direct action to character asides. Pea Hicks designed the complementary patriotic music and Lisa Noelle Stone the tasteful--and subtly funny--red, white and blue dresses and suits.

Sledgehammer deserves a bow just for doing “7 Blowjobs,” a piece that attacks powerful people at a time when most arts institutions, anxious about federal funding, are lying low. This small company, too, has shown that it can assemble excellent local talent and deliver a production punch. But it would be a mistake to rest on the successes of this show. As with most world premieres, not enough of the gold has been panned from the river. There are ideas that still need to be worked out and work that still needs to be done.

“7 BLOWJOBS”

By Mac Wellman. Director is Scott Feldsher. Set by Robert Brill. Lighting by Ashley York Kennedy. Sound designer-composer is Pea Hicks. Costumes by Lisa Noelle Stone. Stage manager is Beth Robertson. With Susan Gelman, Walter Murray, Bruce McKenzie, Sandra L’Italien, Douglas Jacobs and Brian Salmon. At 8 p.m. Thursday-Sunday through Nov. 3. At 843 10th Ave., San Diego. 544-1484.