Sincere Tone Helps Power This ‘Ballad’

In “Ballad” at Theatre Geo, college student John Dawson (Tyler Hansen) pays an unexpected visit home to confide a painful secret to his boozy, irrepressible mother, Maggie (Ann Walker). Although it takes an hour or so of rambling reminiscences for John to come to the point, his subsequent revelation comes as no surprise to those in the audience, most of whom have ascertained John’s “mystery” within five minutes of the opening curtain.

Set in Alabama, Hansen’s debut drama overflows with so much idiosyncratic, idiomatic Southernness that its shallow plot outlines are somewhat softened. Hansen plunges into bathos with all the passion and audacity of youth, and his tone is so sincere that we forgive his many sins of omission and excess.

Despite lines like “It’s not a terrible thing to die, Mama. It’s beautiful,” the piece has a nicely conversational, slice-of-life quality and some fairly acid one-liners that ameliorate the overall mawkishness. Walker, Hansen and Melissa Van der Schyff, who plays a hilariously slack-jawed nurse, hold our interest and our sympathy right through the tear-jerking final denouement.

* “Ballad,” Theatre Geo, 1229 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. Mondays only, 8 p.m. Ends April 21. $12. (818) 789-8499. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.