‘Swing Voter’ Is Harsh Look at Politics

“Swing Voter,” Barbara Edelman’s new play at the Court Theatre, is a sort of modern-day “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” that attempts to penetrate the murk of modern-day Washington politics. Sadly, lapses in logic blunt Edelman’s message about the individual’s increasingly futile struggle against a corrupt system.

During a brutal reelection campaign, veteran U.S. Sen. Jim Hutchings (David Clennon) briefly considers a bribe from an oil lobbyist (Alex Craig Mann). When his adoring aide Frannie Brown (Deborah Thalberg) learns of her idol’s treachery, she leaks the story to the press.

Unfortunately, the unintentional metamorphosis of this “Ms. Smith” whistle-blower into a self-righteous ideologue derails the play’s prevalent theme. Despite Edelman’s last-ditch efforts to shore Frannie up as an incorruptible paragon, she emerges as a dangerously hidebound political fundamentalist whose unthinking obduracy paves the way for extremism.

With high style and energy, director Devlin Mann glosses over the play’s flaws. Clennon and Thalberg polish their limited characters to the highest possible sheen. Besides the smooth-as-silk Mann, Beverly Mickins, Troy Spurlin and Jonathan Edelman also stand out as Hutchings’ cynical but lovable staffers.

BE THERE

Swing Voter, Court Theatre, 722 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends July 20. $15. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.

‘Hazing the Monkey’ Climbs Career Ladder

A line worker at an Iowa tractor factory, Roger Youngblood (Henry Eddleman), applies for a position in the company’s management trainee program--and plunges into a looking-glass world where bad is good, sin is virtue, and morality is little more than a career liability.

Copperview Theatre Company’s production of Marcus A. Hennessy’s “Hazing the Monkey” at the Complex is a potentially hilarious parody in which reality is unsettlingly heightened and institutionalized insanity the norm. Despite an initially promising premise, the play is ultimately undone by muddled and undisciplined execution.

Fresh from his country-western band, Roger has “settled down” at the urging of his perky wife Sally (Lisa David-Dean), who is now pressuring him to bring home more lean with his bacon. During his harrowing efforts to scale the company ladder, Roger encounters a succession of corporate lunatics who will go to bizarre lengths to ensure his fitness for their “team.”

In spite of energetic efforts by director Steve Salotto and the endearing Eddleman, this satire on the grossly inequitable dynamic between labor and management gets sidetracked in intrusive and unmotivated subplots. Among other misfires, a last-minute segue into the abortion issue winds up the proceedings on a dismal--and inadvertently distasteful--note.

BE THERE

Hazing the Monkey, the Complex, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends July 26. $15. (213) 851-2075. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.