‘Keats’: Ode on a Poet’s Brief Life

In David Shepard’s solo show “Keats” at the Asylum Theatre, Austin Pendleton portrays the brilliant British poet during the final days before his death in Rome. Attended only by his faithful painter friend Charles Severn, Keats ponders the ironies of his tragically short life, especially the rejection of his works by the British critical establishment--and his rejection by Fanny Brawne, the object of his obsessive passion.

The artistic director of New York’s Circle Repertory Company until it folded two weeks ago, Pendleton has wasted no time in shifting gears. “Keats,” directed by Douglas S. Hall, was scheduled at the last minute as a sort of precursor to Pendleton’s original play “Uncle Bob,” which opens at the Asylum Nov. 7.

Pendleton is as fervid and tormented as a seminal figure of the Romantic movement should be--despite the fact that he is wrong for the role in almost every conceivable way. Clearly middle-aged (Keats died at 26), with a hurried American dialect that wreaks havoc with Keats’ poetry, Pendleton seems unaware of these potentially disastrous shortcomings, and casually goes about his business of delivering a strangely corrugated but nonetheless riveting performance.

* “Keats,” Asylum Theatre at the Improv, 8156 Melrose Ave. Tonight-Sunday, 8 p.m. $12. (213) 651-2583, Ext. 176. Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes.