THEATER REVIEW : Torn Between Rock and a Bard Place

Shakespeare’s light ‘n’ frothy “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” is no walk through the Huntington Beach Central Park. It’s sometimes tough going for director Ken Perkins and his Huntington Beach Playhouse cast, who deliver a forgettable reading of this smart comedy on love’s tremendous pull.

Each of the principles has his or her own problems, but all can be grouped under a general umbrella: Shakespeare-in-Training.

And Perkins clearly wanted to diddle with the comedy, which follows Veronese pals Valentine and Proteus as they trip over each other in pursuit of Silvia, daughter of the Duke of Milan. All the while, lovesick Julia is going to extremes to woo Proteus.

Perkins’ efforts are a bit slap-dash. As Proteus, Eric Anderson cops a grunge attitude in speech and garb, as does Todd Mooney as servant Speed (obviously an Angels fan) and Leigh Forrest as quirky maiden Lucetta. But Jessica Sandilla’s Julia is a lady of Athens--and Courtney Gains adopts a classically Elizabethan tone for Valentine. Besides, if it’s grunge-style we’re after, then why the music from Meat Loaf? And if it’s a general rock ‘n’ roll mode Perkins wants for this youthful love tryst, then why the traditional Shakespeareanisms sprinkled throughout?

The four lovers have other problems as well. Anderson shows off some heady charisma, but his delivery is dangerously casual, and his Shakespeare is badly American (read: flat). Double-dealing Proteus is a rather nasty, dark guy whom Anderson needs to get to know better. Gains, by contrast, appears to work far too hard for some kind of classical aura; his poses not only resemble Edmund Kean in old daguerreotypes but are too laborious for so simple a character.

Their objects of desire unfortunately are not much more than that; Sandilla and, as Silvia, Wendi de Barrios don’t do much to humanize them. Sandilla becomes affecting only when she disguises herself as a boy servant to spy on Proteus; where her performance had been whiny, it suddenly is able to express a sense of loss. Silvia has to be a turn-on; de Barrios sounds and looks aloof and is not very charming. She is not, like Helen of Troy, a woman over whom men would fight.

Bob May comes to the rescue as a quietly nutty Launce, Proteus’ servant, forever talking to his stuffed toy dog. Mooney’s Speed and Bryce Cahn’s hopelessly trumped Thurio carry some of the comic load as well. (Indeed, when you get lost trying to figure out what this show is after in the style department, just watch Cahn, who creates his own show off-stage running through the park’s woods on another fruitless love hunt).

This is the first production of the Playhouse’s “Shakespeare in the Park” ’94 season, on a rough-hewn amphitheater stage in a shady glen--a smaller version of Topanga’s Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, the granddaddy of all Southern California’s outdoor summer Shakespeare venues. The stage is much closer than the Botanicum’s and, on the day this reviewer attended, the sun was a lot kinder. But as is the case at the Botanicum, an extra pillow is a must.

* “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” Huntington Beach Central Park Amphitheatre, 7111 Talbert Ave., Huntington Beach. Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Ends Aug. 14. $6. (714) 375-0696. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes. Eric Anderson: Proteus Courtney Gains: Valentine Jessica Sandilla: Julia Wendi de Barrios: Silvia Bob May: Launce Todd Mooney: Speed Leigh Forrest: Lucetta Steve Sturm: Duke Bryce Cahn: Thurio A Huntington Beach Playhouse “Shakespeare in the Park” production of a comedy by William Shakespeare, directed by Ken Perkins.