STAGE REVIEW : ‘Sleuth’ a Battle With Wit : * The Huntington Beach Playhouse production enhances the clever murder mystery by Anthony Shaffer.

Anthony Shaffer’s “Sleuth,” one of those sturdy murder mysteries to which community theaters often turn, starts off amiably enough. Andrew Wyke, pompous whodunit novelist, and Milo Tindle, the young guy who’s been sleeping with Andrew’s wife, meet to talk things over.

It doesn’t take long for Andrew to reveal a nasty streak. Seems his civilized veneer is just window-dressing--he’s really out for revenge. Shaffer puts two questions to the audience: just how evil is clever Andrew, and will the seemingly out-classed Milo be much of an adversary in the duel to come?

“Sleuth” can be amusing, mainly because Shaffer knows how to work a phrase and doesn’t resort to all the usual tricks of the mystery genre as he hops and skips through this battlefield-for-two. There are some twists that, while perhaps not totally surprising, at least aren’t as predictable as those we find in so many other plays.

At the Huntington Beach Playhouse, director Darlene Hunter-Chaffee enhances everything by keeping “Sleuth” moving, a simple approach that makes the most of decent performances by Michael Dean Jacobs as Andrew and Chuck O’Connor as Milo.

Jacobs’ Andrew is about as self-absorbed as he can be, a popular and wealthy writer who can’t stand to lose at anything, whether it’s the games he plays so fervently or the notion of giving up his faithless wife to a younger man.

Jacobs may not draw Andrew as dangerously as he could--there’s this sense that Andrew is just partying, even at his meanest--but the actor compensates with a heavy shading of sarcasm that is right for this insufferable martinet. And Jacobs is good with an English accent, not always easy to come by in community productions of British whodunits.

O’Connor keeps in step, presenting Milo as bit of a pretender (his romantic protests seem manufactured, giving him the hint of the gigolo) who may or may not be worthy enough to fight Andrew on his own terms. This nicely sets up the second act, where we learn more about Milo, especially the depth of his cunning.

‘Sleuth’

A Huntington Beach Playhouse production of the play by Anthony Shaffer. Directed by Darlene Hunter-Chaffee. With Chuck O’Connor and Michael Dean Jacobs. Set by Kent Johnson. Lighting by Jim Shaw. Sound by Mike Dart. Continues Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through April 4 at 21141 Strathmoor Lane, Huntington Beach. Tickets: $6 to $8. (714) 832-1405.