Grounds for Celebration

If you happen to hear the coffee at the Odyssey Theatre is deadly, believe it.

That isn’t a swipe at the concession stand--it’s simply a warning that there’s trouble brewing onstage for some complacently upright townsfolk in the stylish production of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Bremen Freedom.”

Based on a true story, the late playwright-filmmaker’s macabre feminist parable is filtered through the stultifying propriety of bourgeois Germany in the mid-1800s. The repressive social climate proves a hell on Earth for a smart, independent-minded woman like Geesche Gottfried (Beth Hogan), who in the Edward Hopperish-opening tableau finds herself nursing the bitter dregs of a loveless marriage. Her oafish husband (Tom McCleister) grunts single-word commands from his armchair perch, contorting his slovenly mug in withering disdain. Geesche endures the abuse with dour stoicism, until his call for “Coffee!” suggests a novel antidote to her predicament. Talk about using the old bean!

Soon afterward, seeking to sweeten her romantic pot, the happily widowed Geesche begins a scandalously flagrant affair with Michael (Christopher Gerson), the cream of the crop among her late spouse’s drinking buddies. Yet even the passions of this sympathetically quiet, sensitive fellow curdle under the burden of running her family saddlery business, raising her children and, worst of all, having to listen to her unconventional ideas about expressing feelings and sharing responsibility. “You think too much for a woman,” he snarls in exasperation.

Getting much the same sentiment from her family and friends, Geesche’s only recourse is to keep a fresh carafe of java at the ready. Her seeming invincibility testifies to a society so blinded by its behavioral code it can’t even recognize the viper nurtured by its own rigid conventionality. Articulating that narrow-mindedness with paternalistic smugness, Gene Dynarski as her father figures prominently among a seamless cast. But it’s Hogan’s grimly nuanced performance that makes Geesche’s blossoming self-confidence a spectacle of such creepy fascination. Nevertheless, as victim after victim succumbs to her deadpan hospitality, the one-note joke, however sardonic, becomes a bit of a grind.

Fortunately, Ron Sossi’s striking direction shifts the focus to mood over plot. The sense of oppressive suffocation is palpable in Geesche’s slowly percolating frustration, pierced by sudden, harrowing outbursts--her explosive declaration of love for Michael, or her erupting fury when he tries to dump her. Sound effects (designed by McCleister)--the slow ticking of a clock or the harsh bawling of Geesche’s children--blend so tightly with atmosphere they practically become an unseen character.

This handsome production, presented as part of the Goethe-Institut’s ongoing Fassbinder retrospective, is an intriguing window into the troubled rebel’s lesser-known theatrical work. Nevertheless, I think I’d pass on a refill.

BE THERE

“Bremen Freedom,” Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. (except April 13 and 27, 2 p.m.) Ends May 4. $18.50-$22.50. (310) 477-2055. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.