STAGE REVIEW : A Play as Topical as the News : ‘Mastergate’: Larry Gelbart’s 1989 spoof of the Iran-Contra affair is again in sync with the news from Washingon.

In 1989, when Larry Gelbart’s “Mastergate” opened and closed on Broadway after just 68 performances, his message was timely but not one the American public wanted to hear. Gelbart’s satirical take on the lies told by the various witnesses in the Iran-Contra hearings has proved itself increasingly on target, but it was not a popular subject right after George Bush was elected President.

There are aspects of the San Diego premiere of “Mastergate” at the North Coast Repertory Theatre that are indeed dated. The portrait of the President on the wall is that of George Bush, but the nameless, oft-napping leader being mocked with the line, “What does the president know and does he have any idea that he knew it?” is clearly Ronald Reagan.

But, disturbingly, more is timely in “Mastergate” than not.

Set in the Sherman Adams Room in the John Mitchell Bulding in Washington, the Select Joint Congressional Committee Investigating Alleged Covert Arms Assistance to Alleged Other Americas investigates the CIA’s attempt to divert arms to Central American guerrillas through a motion picture company’s high-budget action film.

As the senators and congressmen interrogate a series of witnesses working for the government, the plot of how Master Pictures was used to circumvent Congress and bankroll the guerrillas is gradually revealed.

The larger target of “Mastergate” is the doublespeak that cloaks secret, illegal government deals, particularly the Iran-Contra-hostages arms deal. And that maintains its punch as it resurfaces as a campaign issue, with President Bush being asked about his role in the affair when he was vice president.

Bush’s responses to the press about being “out of the loop” are right out of “Mastergate.” In the play, Administration officials use that same expression of being “out of the loop” in their reports to a Senate committee, even as they confess to voting in non-meetings that they didn’t attend and having non-conversations with higher-ups about their roles in a plan they can never articulate under questioning.

“I believe that’s one of the things that I am not cleared to know anymore,” as one squirming witness in the play puts it.

“Mastergate” is more sketch than play, but it is bitterly funny (as one would expect from Gelbart, the master of television’s M*A*S*H). And it should stimulate debate, particularly with the election rolling around. The North Coast Rep, which does a fine, though not flawless, job with the material, does a service by presenting it.

Tim Irving’s direction at North Coast shows an understanding for the heart of the show. By using some of the same actors in key roles, he emphasizes Gelbart’s point that the uniforms may change, but the lies are the same. Eric Medlin does a deadly send-up of Henry Kissinger in the secretary of state role and a pretty good Oliver North as Maj. Manley Battle.

The details, too, are delicious, from the senators being offered money rolled casually like cigarettes in cigarette cases to the generic nervous lawyer beside the witnesses (in one of the show’s best performances, all four are played by David Mitchell Mills) and the generic devoted wife behind the witnesses (each played by Tracey McNeil, also in a variety of costumes and poses).

Unlike the Broadway production, Irving does not pull off the constant inane television coverage of the unfolding event by Total News Network. Despite an energetic performance by Debbie Luce, scaling back on media coverage keeps the media from becoming the third ring of the circus, as was intended.

Also, a sub-story romance between two congressional pages is more distracting than illuminating.

One nice casting turn is using 13-year-old Forrest Blackburn as the teen-age Vice President Burden (who conjures up images of Dan Quayle). An odd one is casting a woman (Mary Ann McKay) as the male chief counsel for the committee, complete with suit, tie and mustache. There isn’t a pay-off to the gender switching.

Marty Burnett’s handsome, substantial-looking set design works well (and turns out to have a few funny surprises up its sleeves). Samantha Terzis’ lighting is simple and effective. John-Bryan Davis, who has been doing the costumes and wigs for North Coast for three years, does an expert job at distinguishing this mad cast of characters and putting each in his proper sartorial place.

One other odd touch is that the play ends with the cast singing “God Bless America” a little apprehensively as if afraid that someone will accuse them of being unpatriotic. The whole point of Gelbart’s play is that it is far more patriotic to point a finger at those breaking the laws of our country--no matter how high up they serve--than it is to lie to the American public.

“MASTERGATE”

By Larry Gelbart. Director is Tim Irving. Set by Marty Burnett. Lights by Samantha Terzis. Video and sound by Tim Irving and Steve Grieger. Costumes by John-Bryan Davis and Pam Stompoli. Stage manager is Michiel Gieskes. Artwork by Jeff Hause. With Forrest Blackburn, Scott Coker, Steve Gouveia, Robert Hagearty, James Howard, Don Loper, Debbie Luce, Mary Ann McKay, Tracey McNeil, Jerry Miller, David Mitchell Mills, Eric Medlin and Michelle Brooks. At 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 7 p.m. Sundays with Sunday matinees at 2 through Nov. 7. Tickets are $12-$14 with $2 discount for seniors, students, military. At Lomas Santa Fe Plaza, Solana Beach. 481-1055.