THEATER REVIEW : Remarkable ‘Hurlyburly’ Found in Unlikely Setting

One approaches David Rabe’s brilliantly excessive drama about excess, “Hurlyburly,” with caution, and not usually by way of cheery Ports O’Call Village in San Pedro, where Cape Cod-style and petite gift shops rule. This isn’t the place you’d expect to find what is possibly the most devastatingly profane and poetic American play of the last decade.

But, in one of those happenings that makes Southern California theater some kind of adventure, director Nancy Campbell’s production at Ports O’Call Playhouse is a remarkable achievement.

There is something about the drive, the fortitude, of Campbell’s cast that is so unlike the lassitude of Rabe’s Hollywood losers and cokeheads that it adds a new layer to the experience of the play.

There’s an immediate aura of devastation that hangs around Jerry Prager’s Phil, the kind that only teetering middle-aged men give off. Prager exudes an internalized war of virility clashing with profound self-hatred that builds a very scary head of steam.

Prager looks tough enough to make us think that Phil may ward off the terrible misogyny and paranoia that’s eating him alive, which makes this a truly wonderful performance. At points, the whole drama is in Prager’s/Phil’s body, the ego and id duking it out. It’s Rabe’s hell, but it’s actor heaven.

Lee St. James’ Eddie, a casting director trying forever to calm actor Phil down, is boldly unafraid of making us guess Eddie’s motives at every turn.

Even more exciting, we actually get to dig these guys, even guiltily want to hang out with them. Partly, it’s because everyone has a life, which the actors make vivid.

Rabe’s people live, though, by proclaiming, not by doing, which is what makes Jack Thomas’ take on his screenwriter character Artie so pathetically funny. Artie keeps talking about his “upcoming” deals, and Thomas actually makes us think the deals may get done.

The key in Campbell’s spatially compressed staging is that nobody here believes they’re lost; the actors emphasize each character’s self-absorption, a coat of armor against show-biz mendacity.

Derik Van Derbeken is a little too church-boy clean as Eddie’s sarcastic roommate Mickey. The women here also have real, distinct voices. Ginger Justin is a tough, towering Darlene, while Nancy Katerra builds exotic dancer Bonnie to a chilling rage. Elaine Orth, as young Donna, beautifully rounds the circle of this tragedy by underplaying this kid’s sadness.

In this unlikely tourist corner with unknown actors, “Hurlyburly” gets to us, like a very rough slap in the face.

* “Hurlyburly,” Ports O’Call Playhouse, Berth 75, Ports O’Call Village, San Pedro. Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.; Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends April 29. $10-$18. (310) 548-5798. 3 hours, 15 minutes.