STAGE REVIEW : A ‘Tale’ Even Dickens Would Like

Great art, like true love, gains poignancy from humble surroundings.

And humble surroundings are what makes Everett Quinton’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” so heartbreakingly charming. When you’re broke, as Quinton was when he penned the piece for his Ridiculous Theatrical Company in New York, conceiving an economical one-man multicharacter piece is both a necessity and an artistic statement.

Having a would-be drag queen in a one-room flat tell “A Tale of Two Cities” to quiet a crying baby left on his doorstep brilliantly brings home the bottom-line accessibility of the story--something Dickens, that great 19th-Century Populist, would have appreciated.

It’s also a fitting choice for the San Diego Repertory Theatre, which is producing the West Coast premiere of the show at the Lyceum space through Dec. 7. Like Quinton when he wrote the story, the Rep is struggling at the edge of the financial abyss; it needs $350,000 by the end of the year if it isn’t to go the way of the defunct Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Circumstances aside, the Rep has put on a handsome production--but at more than two hours with an intermission, it feels padded with dispensable shtick.

And it has provided a terrific showcase for Los Angeles actor Ron Campbell who, under Sam Woodhouse’s sensitive direction, plays Jerry playing 22 characters with vulnerability and virtuosity.

While Jerry bathes, shaves, puts on makeup and dresses--all on-stage--Campbell makes lightning-quick transformations with household props: slapping a cereal box on his head for a hat, he becomes the evil, smirking aristocrat, St. Evremonde; straightening up, he is the marquis’ decent nephew, Charles Darnay, who marries the daughter of a man his uncle imprisoned. Raising a shaving cream can to his lips, he portrays the hard-drinking Sydney Carton, who dreams of giving his life for Darnay’s wife, whom he loves but can never have. And armed with two turkey basters and an afghan, he “knits” shrouds as the bitter Mme. Defarge, whose family was wiped out by St. Evremonde and now plots revenge on his relations, including Darnay, his wife and their child.

The production is slowed by its length and cheap gags. But this is a deeply moving show within a show within a reality. The high drama of Dickens’ tale reverberates in the tale of Jerry telling his version of it with his limited means.

And Jerry’s tale in turn reverberates in the real-life drama of the San Diego Rep, telling this story with its own limited means.

“A Tale of Two Cities,” San Diego Repertory, Lyceum Space, 79 Horton Plaza, San Diego. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Dec. 7. $19-$22; (619) 235-8025. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.