THEATER REVIEW : A Light Touch Makes ‘Money & Friends’

A director must sort out several avenues of interpretation to make Australian playwright David Williamson’s “Money & Friends” work.

One is tone. Should it be a sitcom, treating its subject of greed versus friendship in a flippant manner, or should it be naturalistic, slightly dark, with its laughs floating along its outer edge?

Second is the multilayered pattern of relationships. There are four couples, and their parameters have to be explicit and clear-cut.

Third is the nature of the casting of its minimally central figures, Margaret and Peter, the only honest friends of the whole group.

Regardless of the director, these choices make it a difficult play, and in this production at Long Beach Playhouse, director Ken Rugg has solved some of the problems, but not all. His casting of Frances Majoros as Margaret and Michael Flaherty as Peter is fortunate. They are just right for the very ordinary people they are playing, unpretentious, realistically confused by life’s pitfalls, yet maintaining a sense of optimism that helps them through their little traumas.

College history teacher Margaret has been abandoned by her husband and lessens the pain with a series of affairs with younger men. Peter, recently widowed, is noncommittally riding the waves of disaster after his wife’s death. Margaret suggests he ask their neighbors at an upscale vacation spot for the financial help he desperately needs, but Peter refuses the advice. When Margaret asks for him, their less-than-friendly reaction makes Williamson’s point.

What Rugg hasn’t sorted out in his direction and casting is a solid basis in the chemistry and emotional values of the three couples surrounding Margaret and Peter. They’re a mismatched lot as characters, but here most of the performances are even more mismatched.

There is an exception. Randy Bowden and Linda Van Dine are excellent as the obsessively paranoid doctor, Stephen, and his open-eyed, forgiving wife, Penny. They are honest and real.

Michael Weller hasn’t settled on a characterization as environmentalist Conrad with a popular TV show, and Katrina Curry is merely a cipher as his opportunistic wife.

David Rousseve has a valid pomposity as a lawyer who doesn’t want his wealth known, but Ruth Perry overdoes an unwarranted Bryn Mawr style as his social-ladder climbing wife.

Ignoring the fact that the play is set in Australia and no one attempts an Aussie accent, making some of the dialogue seem silly--the first American production by the Ahmanson Theatre made the same error--Rugg does make his own point by treating the script as a sitcom. His light touch keeps things moving, often too leisurely, but disguising some of the script’s flaws.

* “Money & Friends,” Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach. Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; 2 p.m. matinees Sunday, July 23, Aug. 6. Ends Aug. 12. $10. (310) 494-1616. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes. Frances Majoros Margaret

Michael Flaherty Peter

Michael Weller Conrad Wesson

Katrina Curry Jaquie Swan

Linda Van Dine Penny Armstrong

Randy Bowden Stephen Armstrong

Ruth Perry Vickie Calabresi

David Rousseve Alex Calabresi

Frank D. Donner III Justin

A Long Beach Playhouse production of David Williamson’s comedy. Directed by Ken Rugg. Scenic/lighting design: John H. Nokes. Costumes: Donna Fritsche. Stage manager: Ivette Torres.