THEATER REVIEW : Rabble-Rousing ‘Failure to Disperse’

Daniel Matmor’s “Failure to Disperse” outlines a night in an L.A. jail cell during last year’s riots. One of the inmates is homeless, one started a fire, two broke the curfew, one is a loony West Indian, and the rest failed to disperse their demonstration on police order.

This production at Hollywood Actors Theater is filled with capable performances and tight direction by the playwright. It’s also filled with anger in a time that cries out for sanity, and can’t escape its cliche of men from different backgrounds (the streets of South-Central and East L.A., the pleasure domes of Beverly Hills, and oddly the cobblestones beside the Thames) from looking like every other prison drama that’s ever been written.

Nothing new is yelled out that hasn’t been yelled out during the last year. This rabble-rouser of a play seems bent on fanning anger rather than peace, violence rather than mature solutions and mayhem rather than order.

* “Failure to Disperse,” Hollywood Actors Theater, 1157 N. McCadden Pl., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 10:30 p.m. Ends March 13. $10; (213) 466-1767. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.