‘Play Strindberg’ Takes Off the Gloves

Friedrich Durrenmatt’s “Play Strindberg (without tears . . . )” at the Strasberg Center’s Marilyn Monroe Theatre is a seldom-produced nugget that, thanks to the efforts of veteran director Martin Magner and a 24-carat cast, proves a golden occasion.

Seen here in James Kirkup’s translation, Durrenmatt’s piece was inspired by Strindberg’s “Dance of Death.” As in that drama, Durrenmatt sets his action in a remote and purgatorial island garrison where an army officer is observing (but not celebrating) his 25th year of marriage to his wife, a former actress.

With all due homage to Strindberg, “Dance of Death” is a relentless piece portraying the cannibalistic interaction Strindberg envisioned as the desperate state of marriage. Durrenmatt’s characters are desperate as well--desperately amusing. Metaphorically speaking, Strindberg’s play shows us a man and woman devouring one another. In Durrenmatt’s parody, they gobble each other up--then give a big, obscenely funny belch.

This dramatic combat is structured not in scenes, but in rounds. Literally. When the bell rings, there’s a brief lull in the activities while the fighters regroup. Jack Heller turns in a tour-de-force performance as Edgar, the aging, ailing officer who maintains an apoplectic pitch of rage against his missus, Alice, a role wonderfully realized by Salome Jens, despite some opening-night shakiness on lines. Edgar is broad and crass, a down-and-dirty street fighter. Deceptively refined and ethereal, Alice is a past master of the sucker punch.

Whatever their different fighting techniques, Alice and Edgar are both perfectly nasty pieces of work, well-balanced in their mutual viciousness. When Alice’s cousin and former lover Kurt (Richard Neil) arrives on the island for a visit, the acrimony escalates to a near-surrealistic pitch.

The design elements in the play are makeshift but serviceable. Dennis Wilkerson’s discreet lighting counterbalances his overly utilitarian set design. Kathleen H Waln’s period costumes are distinctive, although Jens’ sumptuous gown hardly reflects her character’s straitened circumstances.

As an aside, the play’s director is 98 years old this month. Magner, who was active in German theater during the early decades of this century, fled to America in 1939 and became a television director. After his “retirement” in 1965, he returned to directing for the stage.

Apart from his astute casting, Magner has made a savvy choice of material. Durrenmatt’s play is savagely contemporary, and Magner catches every drop of irony in the deluge of venom. It’s a youthfully ebullient staging, a testament to a formidable--and remarkably durable--talent.

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* “Play Strindberg (without tears . . . ),” Marilyn Monroe Theatre, Lee Strasberg Creative Center, 7936 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends April 4. $15. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.