Raw Passions Fuel ‘Warring Absence’

In Jody Duncan’s chronicle of the final weeks in the life of Dylan Thomas, “A Warring Absence” defines the tempestuous marriage between the self-destructive Welsh poet and his spirited Irish bride, Caitlin.

Careful research and compassion for her troubled subjects are evident in Duncan’s eloquent, powerful account, which receives an impressively committed staging from Jim Hatch to inaugurate the Los Angeles Playhouse (formerly known as the Open Fist Theatre Company).

Though Duncan rarely differentiates between artistic genius and atrocious behavior, a sharp performance from Bill Dunlevy as Thomas ensures we’re never in danger of a romanticized portrait, undercutting Thomas’ wit and charm with increasing self-loathing and dissolute abandon. Staggering home from his latest drinking bout, his Thomas tries to appease Caitlin’s jealousy with the lyrical disclaimer that other women were “always you in another dress,” but there’s a chilling, hollow ring to the ruse. Only in a magnificent recitation of “Fern Hill” does Dunlevy unfurl Thomas’ poetic spirit.

Ann Kellogg’s Caitlin proves a worthy sparring partner, enduring Thomas’ infidelities, alcoholism and compulsive dishonesty with an unshakable love that is in no way degrading. She can and does strike back with equal force--a sad measure of how far two people who care for each another can still sink.

The two-character dynamic is the soul of the play, and Duncan’s attempt to widen the scope with a superfluous first-act pub scene is distracting; the eventual confrontation between Thomas and Caitlin could follow directly from their previous confrontation without the lapse in momentum. The second act, however, is an inexorable jewel of construction, leaving us with that rare sense of history given breath.

* “A Warring Absence,” Los Angeles Playhouse, 1625 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends April 28. $15. (213) 882-6912. Running time: 2 hours.