THEATER REVIEWS : An Illuminating ‘Shadow Box’ : Bolstered by sensitive, honest acting, the play says a lot about those final days before one succumbs to terminal illness.

In a time when terminal disease seems about to touch every area of American life, Michael Cristofer’s “The Shadow Box” is as relevant as when it was written a quarter-century ago. Cristofer never mentions the illnesses that are about to take their toll on his three protagonists, and that makes his play’s effect even stronger.

The effect is bolstered by some sensitive, well-defined and honest performances in director Chuck Ketter’s incisive, moody staging at the Vanguard Theatre.

Ketter takes Cristofer’s ingredients--three terminal patients who are stable enough to live in cottages on the grounds of the hospital, but who are too far gone to leave completely--and balances their varied reactions to their situation with those of their families, who have come to share their final time.

Each patient is interviewed periodically by a staff member on a closed-circuit television setup. Ketter has chosen to have the Interviewer (Dina Bartello) appear onstage, a valid choice considering Bartello’s telling performance--clinical and cool with just a hint of compassion.

But considering Ketter’s nice use of TV monitors, a disembodied voice would have been more effective, as it is in some productions of the play, giving an even more profound sense of the patients’ isolation.

The Vanguard’s small performing area is well-suited to the action, with three pedestals on which the patients stand, like witnesses at a trial, during their conversations with the Interviewer, each facing a monitor.

At center, like an island in an unfriendly sea, is the cottage sitting room of Brian. Ketter moves his cast like passing filmic images across this simple, sparse set in a choreography of despair and anger.

But all is not dark in Cristofer’s microcosmic society. There is humor enough to balance the weight of what the playwright is saying about holding on or letting go, about what should be finished, tied together, resolved before the end.

Robert Knapp is crisp and buoyant as Brian, who makes a game of placing his life in cubbyholes before it’s too late. There is a sort of poetry in the performance of Becky Saunders as his free-wheeling ex-wife, a born bohemian who has taken the pose too far.

Brian’s family is rounded out by Mark, a gay hustler who has found a sort of twisted salvation in his relationship with Brian. Mark is given a tight-wound portrait by James Cude.

Max Goldberg’s warm, almost cuddly Joe, a blue-collar type who has never given himself a chance to succeed, is a perfect match for the finely delineated performance of Brenda Parks as his wife Maggie, who is desperately disturbed by the emptiness Joe’s illness has forced on her. As their teen-aged son, Steven, Ed Trevino is as self-involved as he should be.

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The real heartbreak in this production is the little charades played out by Sue Ozeran as Felicity, who has been hanging on until her daughter Clare returns, and Laurel Kelsh as her other daughter Agnes, who writes Clare’s letters so mama won’t remember that Clare has been dead for years. These two performances are outstanding.

The staging is rewarding in its inner depth, especially in the complicated chiaroscuro of D. Silvio Volonte’s lighting design, which becomes as much of a character as any of the others.

* “The Shadow Box,” Vanguard Theatre, 699-A S. State College Blvd., Fullerton. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Sundays, 5 p.m. Ends Feb. 5. $12 and $14. (714) 526-8007. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes. Robert Knapp Brian

Becky Saunders: Beverly

James Cude: Mark

Laurel Kelsh: Agnes

Sue Ozeran: Felicity

Max Goldberg: Joe

Brenda Parks: Maggie

A Vanguard Theatre Ensemble production of Michael Cristofer’s drama, produced by Tim Vandehey. Directed by Chuck Ketter. Costumes: Irene Ortega. Lighting design: D. Silvio Volonte.