THEATER REVIEW : ‘Blood and Marriage’ a Baffling Mix

In California, the most frequent legal grounds for divorce is “Irreconcilable Differences.” But baffled witnesses to “Blood and Marriage” might choose the least common: “Incurable Insanity.”

At the Met Theatre, Kerry Madden-Lunsford’s absurdist comedy about Postpartum Depression is a wacky, erratic cartoon in 10 sketches straining for poetic impact. New parents Honey and Big Man sometimes speak in couplets, but for the majority of the time they talk realistically, if over-the-top. A “brother-in-law from hell” and his miserable wife would make Beavis and Butt-head resemble Ozzie and Harriet. Honey chills her placenta in the refrigerator, which “the kid of the brother-in-law from hell” drapes over his face.

“Blood and Marriage” hopes to be an original mix of Halloween silliness, vaudeville outrageousness and Albee’s “The American Dream.” But it resembles a sophomoric piece that’s been workshopped to death, any originality compromised by committee, its narrative distorted by scene-stealing actors. The playwright’s voice occasionally emerges as compelling satire, but is generally repressed by self-indulgent performers apparently encouraged by director Cedering Fox to showcase for industry scouts.

Mental cruelty and alienation of affections become the predominant emotions endured by audiences during “Blood and Marriage.”

* “Blood and Marriage,” the Met Theatre, 1089 N. Oxford Ave., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Nov. 20. $10. (213) 957-1152. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.