Capitalizing on Laughter

How ya gonna keep ‘em down on the communist collective after they’ve been Westernized? Set in St. Petersburg at the height of perestroika, Nagle Jackson’s hilarious “The Quick-Change Room (Scenes From a Revolution)” at Pacific Resident Theatre depicts the agonized contortions of artists forced to toe the bottom line of capitalism for the first time.

In addition to being a scathing political satire, the play is a loving, lacerating lampoon of the theater, a near-perfect edifice that supports layer after layer of meaning, metaphor and rip-roaring hilarity.

Like that old riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, the ever-mysterious Russian social structure is portrayed here as a microcosm within a microcosm within a microcosm. First, there’s the all-enveloping blanket of Soviet totalitarianism--occasionally suffocating, but at least warm and familiar. Then, there’s the steamy, Chekhovian languor of the Russian theater, a venerable artistic tradition about to be rudely broached by a blast of popular culture.

Finally, there’s the feverish hothouse atmosphere of the quick-change room backstage at the Kuzlov Theatre, into which actors dash for their split-second costume changes. Enter a nun, leave a whore. It’s the work of an instant under the capable hands of veteran dresser Marya Stepanova (Alley Mills).

But in real life, sudden transformation is not that easy. Brace themselves as they might against the whirlwind changes of encroaching capitalism, the most dedicated workers find themselves out of jobs while hucksters and charlatans rise and prosper.

The theater is no exception. Sergey Sergeyevitch Tarpin (Gar Campbell), the Kuzlov’s esteemed artistic director, cannot shield his extended artistic family from the onslaught of change. As Sergey learns, there’s little room for aesthetic considerations in this crass new world of popular entertainment--a fact brought home by the gradual transformation of Chekhov’s “The Three Sisters” into a musical--with only two sisters, no less.

Director Orson Bean laces the play’s whimsy with a bracing tot of bitterness, sardonically underscoring the absurdity that arises when commerce dictates art. Victoria Profitt’s set design seems somewhat bargain-basement, even in light of the budget crunch at the Kuzlov. Kathi O’Donohue’s lighting and Audrey Eisner’s wacky costumes are vivid, vital components of the production.

As Sergey, Campbell proves a gentle and eloquent mouthpiece for a vanishing way of life. The very effective Mills maintains a Russian deadpan that makes her character’s cheeky commentary all the more wry. And as a toweringly theatrical grande dame who falls quickly from a mighty height, Marilyn Fox splits our sides as she breaks our hearts.

BE THERE

“The Quick-Change Room,” Pacific Resident Theatre, 703 Venice Blvd., Venice. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends May 11. $18. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.