THEATER REVIEWS : ‘Politics of Love’ Campaigns for Compassion

In an era when drama is frequently concerned with AIDS and its social and personal ramifications, what new slant could be given to the subject?

Pacific Theatre Company’s production of Rusty Nixon’s “The Politics of Love” tries to find that different viewpoint in a sort of mea culpa memory play about the playwright’s own long-term friendship with an AIDS victim.

During most of their decade and a half of being best friends, the author’s counterpart, Greg, was not aware that Jay Tanner was gay.

On their first day as college roommates, Greg’s obvious and volatile homophobia slammed Jay’s closet door shut with a resounding bang. Twelve years later, Jay finally reveals to Greg that he is homosexual and that he is dying of AIDS.

Greg doesn’t handle it very well. His anger and guilt almost destroy his own marriage as he tries to find answers within himself and within the boundaries of his limited perception of the possibilities--and politics--of unconditional love.

This is not a play about AIDS, nor even about homosexuality. It is about understanding, compassion and acceptance. By the play’s end, Greg still doesn’t have it all figured out, but the process has begun.

If the play does not work as well as it might, it is because of the playwright’s need to tell too much of the whole story.

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We first meet Greg and Jay as teens, the day Jay moves into the college dorm. The piece would be stronger if it began with Jay’s disclosure in Act II, and with Greg’s realization of his own intolerance in spite of the years of affection between them. These are the strong stakes dramatically and, as it stands, it takes too long to get to them.

The time span also puts a burden on the directors, Nicole R. Fischer and Ronald A. Rapp, and the actors, Rapp as Greg and Robert Wolter as Jay. The actors have to age from their teens to their 30s, and the illusion is not skillfully accomplished. Nor is there enough meat in the early sections for either directors or actors to really chew on.

Both Rapp and Wolter have more strength and honesty, and much more sincerity, as the older Greg and Jay, when the playwright gives them moments that are both theatrically and dramatically more viable to work with.

That this youthful company has chosen to produce a play with this interesting premise, in spite of its flaws, is to their credit. More experienced companies have not been able to rise above similar problems with plays that look good on the surface but never get below that surface.

* “ The Politics of Love,” Pacific Theatre Company, Concordia University, 1530 Concordia West, Irvine. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Sept. 12. $7-$9. (714) 252-7427 or (714) 552-9044. Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes. Ronald A. Rapp ...Greg Robert Wolter ...Jay

A Pacific Theatre Company production. Drama by Rusty Nixon. Directed by Nicole R. Fischer and Ronald A. Rapp. Lighting design: Ronald Rapp and Robert Wolter.