Theater Review : ‘House’s’ Disturbing Satire Still Packs Power

Norman Lock’s view of contemporary America was absolutely merciless six years ago, when his “House of Correction” hit Los Angeles Theatre Center like a house on fire.

Director J. David Krassner has revived this disturbing satire at a theater some think of as relatively sedate, Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills, and it still packs a powerful punch. Some may find it even more apropos now, in the age of the Clintons and political correctness.

Marion and Carl, married ninnies who live in a New Jersey suburb, think of themselves as good liberals. But they don’t know what to think of Steve, a man who worms his way into their house--and their bed.

Steve’s wife was brutally murdered, he says. And for some reason, he appears to hold Carl--a mild-mannered ad copywriter--responsible. It’s pay-back time.

Whatever else it does, Lock’s play keeps a tight lock on an audience’s attention. The dialogue rapidly bounces around the stage, hardly pausing to allow laughs, though many of them lie just under the surface. But gradually the shimmer of the words deepens into a more visceral sense of menace. If Eugene Ionesco had written an American suspense thriller, it might be something like this.

Krassner’s cast, perched on Jerzy Cybulski’s comic-strip-style furniture, creates impeccable caricatures. Robin Groves makes Marion’s nervous little laughs worthy of their own laughs. Christopher Michael Moore’s Carl is pudgy, smug, deliciously disgusting. As the insistent outsider, Michael Gough has enough insinuating charm to sneak past this couple’s initial defenses without much problem, then emerges as a commanding avenger.

Gough recently played a similar character in “The Homage That Follows” at the same theater, but that play moved like molasses compared to this one. The witty, uncredited soundtrack between scenes of “House of Correction” helps keep it moving.

Audiences will argue about what Lock’s play adds up to--a difficult subject to discuss here without giving away too much of the plot. Yet it’s clear that severe tunnel vision afflicts the two men in the play, although Steve talks a good game to the contrary. The woman, while more open-minded, hasn’t a mind worth opening. In short, no one is spared, and no one has a clue about how to correct injustice without creating more of it.

* “House of Correction,” Theatre 40, 241 Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills (on the campus of Beverly Hills High School). Sundays-Tuesdays, 8 p.m. Ends July 5. $10. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes.