THEATER REVIEW / ‘ROMANTIC COMEDY’ : Light Fare : Bernard Slade script provides for a fairly easy-to-digest evening at Fay Renee Dinner Theatre.

A frustrated playwright gets his comeuppance in Bernard Slade’s frothy “Romantic Comedy,” now playing at the Faye Renee Dinner Theatre in Camarillo.

Jim Seerden stars as Jason Carmichael, whose successful writing partnership of many years has just dissolved. At the same time, Carmichael is preparing to marry socialite Patricia Adrian.

Into this confusion and worry steps aspiring playwright P. J. Craddock, a longtime Carmichael fan who has submitted a script for his consideration.

Surprise! P. J. turns out to be Phoebe (Denice Stradling), an attractive young woman who has been teaching English in Vermont. Complications ensue, most--but not all--of them what might be expected. Though Bernard Slade is no Noel Coward, “Romantic Comedy” is a pleasant way to spend a somewhat lengthy 2 1/2 hours.

Both Carmichael and Craddock are bright, interesting people, even if Carmichael is a bit of a grouch and Craddock is, he notes, “relentlessly perky.” One is reminded of Lou Grant’s first-meeting assessment of Mary Richards: “You’ve got spunk. I hate spunk.”

Most of the action takes place between Carmichael and Craddock, as their careers and relationship evolve. Seerden and Stradling look good in their parts: he, world-weary and sardonic; she, chipper and motivated. Stradling does occasionally sound like Sandy Duncan doing a Woody Allen impression, which is an odd way of speaking for a Vermont schoolteacher.

Stradling turns her character’s attempt to remove a topcoat, under the influence of a few too many banana daiquiris, into a particularly funny piece of business.

Many members of the cast sounded as if they were reading their lines on opening night. That should change rapidly with experience. Part of the problem is with Slade’s sometimes-stiff dialogue. Would anybody warn somebody else “You’d better avert your eyes,” when they could say “look away”? Or, in the throes of impending romance, what couple would say, “I’m very passionate about you.” “And I about you”?

The supporting cast includes Penny Puente as Carmichael’s brassy agent, a former showgirl with a seemingly endless supply of wigs; Patricia Adrian as Alison St. James, Carmichael’s politician wife; George Reese as reporter Lee Janowitz, who has come to interview the now-successfully collaborating playwrights, and Gail James as a star who is used to having her own way.

Dates have been moved up a little, probably needlessly, to make the play sound more contemporary. There’s a reference to Tom Arnold, a very ‘90s celebrity, but there’s also a reference to acting teacher Lee Strasberg, who died in 1982.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Romantic Comedy” continues Thursday through Saturday nights through Feb. 20 at the Faye Renee Dinner Theatre in Ottavio’s Banquet Facilities, 340 N. Mobil Ave., Camarillo. Dinner is served at 7 p.m.; show time is 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 per person on Thursday, including a buffet dinner, and $35 on Friday and Saturday nights, including a served dinner. Both prices include dinner, beverage, dessert and gratuity. A no-host bar is available. For reservations of further information, call 484-9909.