‘Monsters’ Aims at Easy Targets

The scariest aspect of Rough Theater’s “Scary Monsters” at the Flight Theatre is that it actually made one feel sorry for Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole. That probably wasn’t playwright-director Eric Diamond’s intent.

Diamond plays Newt, substituting a vein-popping grimace and stuffed pants for acting, and as a playwright he attacks these two prominent Republicans with a sledgehammering onslaught that is more embarrassing than funny. Scenes from the past and present are strung together willy-nilly, and some of the scene-changing blackouts last as long as the actual scenes.

The humor is rather puerile--birthing scenes, lustful politicians getting oral sex from bimbos and insipid lines like a screw-industry lobbyist (the future Marianne Gingrich played by Kristina Haddad) saying, “Better living through screwing.”

Richard Steen as the war-wounded, slightly dense Bob Dole is the only bright spot here--and as the ambitious and more talented Elizabeth Dole, Maria Cina plays well off him.

Sex, easy targets before a sympathetic audience and bulldozer tactics of persuasion hardly make for good political satire.

* “Scary Monsters,” Flight Theatre, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Nov. 3. $10. (213) 883-1838. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.