An Uneven ‘Dresser’ at Odyssey

Norman (Allen Williams), dresser to a declining Shakespearean actor-manager known as Sir, is searching the pages of Sir’s hand-written memoir. The time is 1942, the setting is the backstage of a theater in the war-torn English provinces.

Norman--a lonely homosexual alcoholic who has been nursemaid, valet, son and father to the increasingly erratic Sir for 16 years--is searching the memoir for a mention of himself. The rude surprise he gets is but one aspect of life in the theater, a life wonderfully observed by Ronald Harwood in his play “The Dresser,” at the Odyssey Theatre.

Williams makes the moment heart-stopping and comical; it is the high point of a mostly unconvincing performance and an uneven production, directed by Ron Sossi. For most of the evening, Norman’s hands are in an actorly flutter. He talks at other characters instead of to them and rolls back his underlined eyes in bouts of over-signaled helplessness.

The more robust performance comes from Peter Goldfarb as Sir, the still unknighted thespian who is playing Lear while losing his mind in real life as well. Though physically not imposing enough for the role (imagine Eric Blore or Mel Brooks as Lear), Goldfarb’s Sir displays Lear’s hard-won dignity, his foolishness, his ability to inspire loyalty and his impulse to take refuge in his imagination during hard, hard times.

The supporting cast is also uneven, and many of the act-one scenes lag. The play comes to life at the top of the second act, when the band of actors in moth-eaten costumes watches from offstage as Sir delivers a particularly inspired mad scene. On drums and sheets of tin they join together to create the noise of the storm raging enough to honor their moth-eaten but at that moment beloved Lear.

“In days gone by, this would have been the place where the high priests robed!” exclaims Irene, a young actress in the troupe trying to advance her career in Sir’s dressing room. Goldfarb’s Sir is indeed a high priest, no matter how foolish or insane, at least in his own mind. When Tom Courtenay played Norman on Broadway in 1981 and again in the 1984 Peter Yates film, “The Dresser” was a riveting and pathetic creature. This production might well be retitled “Sir.”

* “The Dresser,” Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A., Thursdays to Sundays, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m. Ends March 3. $18-$20. (310) 477-2055. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.