THEATER REVIEW : 3 Fables Ruined by Adulteration : A banal premise and bad sitcom acting mar ‘The Politics of Fairy Tales,’ a grown-up’s look at the ugly side of children’s stories.

Kids have enough problems today without adults mucking up their fairy tales. The notion behind “The Politics of Fairy Tales,” at NoHo Studios, is that fairy tales are really serious stuff, suitable for adults. Whatever innocence there may be in them is fouled by the odors of intrigue, mendacity, lying, egotism and hypocrisy. So, leave the kids at home, folks, and let’s explore.

Based on the results, director Stephen Moore’s production has some more exploring to do. It might even be discovered that this show wasn’t a very good idea to begin with.

It’s sorry enough that the evening’s thematic mainspring is banal, comparable to announcing that the Bible is a wonderful literary work full of human stories. But what Moore and company actually deliver on stage should get the kiddies steaming mad.

On paper, “Politics” seems promisingly eclectic. The opener is George Hauger’s “Augustus,” adapted from French authors Jean Anouilh’s and Jean Aurenche’s “Humulus le Muet.” We then proceed to A. A. Milne’s “The Ugly Duckling,” sans animals, and finish in the big, bad modern world with Dennis E. Noble’s fable play, “A Game.”

Whatever thinking went into the programming, though, short-circuited along the way. Moore forgot to tell his actors that they’re not on a sitcom, and sooner than you can say working L.A. actor , they lapse into the sitcom-ese of overly indicated comedy, overly done gestures and undercooked wit. If this is someone’s idea of a showcase, he or she had better think twice about whom it’s shown to.

“Augustus” begins with the simple premise that Augustus (Michael Matthys), the Duchess’ shy grandson, can speak only one word per day. It concludes with the symmetry and irony of the best fairy tales--Helen (Kitty McNamee), whom Augustus loves so much that he starts talking, is hard of hearing.

Nice, except that the playing is so charmless, broad and inept, it feels like Shelly Duvall’s “Faerie Tale Theatre” made over for the Fox Network. The TV allusion is apt, for besides some winning moments from Matthys as the innocent lad and McNamee on her bicycle, the cast is more camera-ready than stage-ready.

They appear no more ready in “The Ugly Duckling.” Bring back the ducks, please; the humans in Moore’s numb staging behave with all the expressive sense of marionettes. The switch is that a princess (Jennifer Rade) is viewed as ugly by everyone except herself and the prince (Smith Forte) who wishes to marry her. Further switches involve disguised identities and whatnot, all inherently theatrical, though none of it actually theatrical here.

As execrable as it is dramatically, Noble’s “A Game” at least provides a creative director some interesting stage pictures. Dr. Henning (Forte) recruits three guinea pigs (Rade, William Knight and Katharine Noon) for, he says, “an experiment in mind order through participatory slogans.” The trio stand in, and must not leave, demarcated rectangles, and make a nationalistic chant every time a red light appears.

Noble begins with a trim though risky metaphor for global politics and mind control (Moore has alluded in an interview to Bosnia, though the piece long predates that current conflict). He forgot, though, to make his game players interesting as archetypes; instead, they’re squabbling, overgrown juveniles (except for Rade, whose Val Girl delivery makes her sound merely juvenile). The process by which they become willing to kill for territory is so hopelessly speeded up, with no sense of time passing, that any lab doctor would toss this experiment out the window.

And as for the politics of fairy tales, let’s call this caucus to a close.

Where and When

What: “The Politics of Fairy Tales.”

Location: NoHo Studios, 5215 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.

Hours: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends May 15.

Price: $15.

Call: (818) 761-6127.