THEATER REVIEW : Absurdist ‘Dimes’ Presents a Challenge for Its Actors

The best absurdist theater walks a dizzying line between hilarity and dread. Peter Mattei’s neo-absurdist “Tiny Dimes,” presented by Bottom’s Dream at the Evidence Room, never quite inspires the requisite chuckles or sense of queasy imminence.

In the play, two successful business couples, plus a visiting executive, meet in a boardroom to discuss, in a pointedly desultory manner, everything from hamburgers to traffic accidents to oat bran. With the exception of the amusingly befuddled Jane (Bonita Friedericy), who keeps anxiety at bay by parroting self-affirmation tapes, the prevalent mood among these Yuppie oligarchs degenerates into one of increasing hostility and paranoia.

Director Mitchell Gossett is blessed with a fine cast, which includes Gregg Daniel, Brian Patrick Egan, Jill Patterson and Tuck Milligan. If there’s a nuance or an interesting beat between characters, these actors find it, but they must dig strenuously to find the substance in Mattei’s relentlessly avant-garde mishmash. In the end, despite the best efforts of all involved, “Tiny Dimes” appears to be an acting class exercise more than a play, more calculated to challenge its indisputably gifted actors than to entertain the audience.

* “Tiny Dimes,” Evidence Room, 3542 Hayden Ave., Culver City. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends July 29. $15. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes.