‘True West’ Discovers the Center of Gravity : Theater review: The Costa Mesa production balances the performances that make the Sam Shepard drama work--and work well.

Every once in a while even a wild and crazy playwright like Sam Shepard feels an urge to nod in the direction of commercial theater. Shepard’s nod was “True West.” His most accessible work, and his most popular with the general public, it also is that anathema to many current playwrights: a well-made play. It has a beginning, a middle and an end, and its characters for the most part act like real human beings.

“True West,” in a vital and multilayered production at the Theatre District, tells a modern fable of two brothers. Austin is an intelligent Ivy Leaguer, married with children, struggling to maintain his career as a screenwriter. Lee is a no-account loser who has just rambled in from the desert, looking for fast bucks and good times.

The action follows Lee’s takeover of Austin’s friendship and pact with a hot-shot Hollywood producer, and his theft of Austin’s very purpose in life.

A balance in performance is crucial if this play is to work. Lee’s creeping amusement at his power advantage, and Austin’s growing fear of his own stunned emotional emptiness, are on dramatic scales that easily can be tipped.

But the scales are matched perfectly in these performances, by P. J. Agnew as Lee and Kennedy York as Austin. Under Mario Lescot’s vigorous direction, in which he often treats the text as a piece of flowing music, Agnew is as spring-coiled and dangerous as a viper in the desert sand, with a smile that can turn the blood cold.

*

York’s Austin does more than balance the shades and tones of Agnew’s Lee. One can see this Austin backing away from his brother, from still-fresh memories of childhood terror, and then, slowly as his courage and faith in himself disintegrate, one sees him recede into his own private hell, until the inevitable explosion sets him free. It’s an always intricate, often surprising performance.

Max Goldberg as the producer, Saul Kimmer, may not be as sleazy as Kimmer might be, but he has enough tarnished flash to make Shepard’s point, and Karen Mangano as the mother, unexpectedly returned from a trip to Alaska, is properly opaque and clueless, as the mother would be who produced these two ravaged scions of our modern world.

* “True West,” the Theatre District, 2930 Bristol St., Suite C-106, Costa Mesa. Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Oct. 1. $15. (714) 435-4043. Running time: 2 hours.

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Kennedy York: Austin

P. J. Agnew: Lee

Max Goldberg: Saul Kimmer

Karen Mangano: Mom

A Theatre District production of a play by Sam Shepard, directed by Mario Lescot. Producer: Bonnie Vise. Scenic design: Two Blue Chairs Inc. Stage manager: Sharon Evans.