Lightweight ‘Sparrows’ Mired in Jokes

Play titles often contain metaphors, but they should not be unintended. After seeing “A Quarrel of Sparrows,” the James Duff play now at the Court Theatre in West Hollywood, one can only think of his characters, who, despite constant and agitated twittering, remain lightweight.

It’s not that big things don’t happen. Paul (David Kaufman), a playwright on his way to the Russian Tea Room to sign A Contract With Hollywood, runs into God. Let’s call it “Angels in America Lite”--God appears to Paul on Fifth Avenue, “between Gucci’s and the Park.” Duff dispels any hints toward spirituality by immediately establishing the currency of the play: facile jokes in lieu of human behavior in crucial situations. When a friend is skeptical that Paul has seen God, the playwright answers, “It was God! What was I supposed to do, ask for his driver’s license?”

Essential plot elements are likewise marred by a trumped-up, overly injected sense of importance. The contract that Paul is to sign, for instance, will not only make him rich but will also apparently ensure the careers of his actress wife (Lisa Picotte) and his ruthless agent (Bruce H. Newberg). This explains why they are all hysterical to get Paul to sign, and remain hysterical for the entire play. Also, Paul’s friend and stage manager Lynn (Bill Brochtrup) is along for the ride.

The group follows Paul to the Long Island home of his godfather August (Laurence O’Dwyer), a cultivated man and retired musician who collects harps. (His comfortably crowded home is designed with warmth by Mark Henderson and Tim Farmer.) There they also meet August’s niece Rosanna (Ronnie Claire Edwards), a woman whose literal faith in the Bible figures into Paul’s search for the truth.

Occasionally one glimpses a better play beneath this one. Some jokes really land (talking to a studio executive is like “playing with a child who can hurt you”), and Duff’s sometimes witty disclosure of each character’s unique belief system could have made this an interesting comedy of faith. But director Mary Lou Belli undercuts credulity--that is, she frequently interrupts the natural flow of conversation to have actors turn to the audience to deliver punch lines. It’s difficult to believe anything or anyone onstage, although O’Dwyer, Edwards and, in a small role, Brochtrup, manage to have their human moments.

Duff is clearly going for something bigger than sitcom-ville, which is especially apparent in a rather purple second-act speech made by August during which the entire play stands still. He speaks eloquently--a bit too eloquently--about the spirituality of music, using it as a metaphor for the human soul. His speech contains a clue to Paul’s dilemma. As to what makes these characters tick, however, the audience may still remain clueless.

* “A Quarrel of Sparrows,” Court Theatre, 722 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood, Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Dec. 8. $24. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.