‘Laughing Wild’ Just Aimless Target Practice

As a maker of rudely angry plays disguised as comedies, Christopher Durang has done better than “Laughing Wild.” He may never surpass the disarming, poison-pen satire of “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You” (1981), and “Laughing Wild” (1988) seems to be much in the shadow of that comedy’s black reach.

Durang is rudderless without a target (in “Sister Mary,” the target was Catholicism). “Laughing Wild’s” target is less specific, a blend of America’s need for open confession and New Age trendiness.

Therefore, in director Chad Wood’s revival staging at Orange Coast College Repertory’s Drama Lab Studio in Costa Mesa, Durang’s project feels muddled.

That’s partly because of time passing; some of the targets (Dr. Ruth, Sally Jessie Raphael) wear thin. But it’s mostly about student director Wood’s student actors, who work mightily to deliver Durang’s deliberate hysterics and mood shifts but create a performance that’s more exercise than play.

As Durang’s best buddy, Sigourney Weaver, once remarked, Durang’s expressive artifices are such that the actors doing his work have to be particularly real. It’s a paradox these actors perhaps realize but never resolve.

Durang first presents us with a Woman (Laura Viramontes ) who’s so misanthropic that she could go serial killer on us. As it is, she can beat up a supermarket customer for lingering too long in the tuna fish section. What next, we wonder--pulling an Uzi on a slow guy at the ATM?

Mysteriously--and it may not occur to you until later--Durang never explains why the Woman is telling us about her manic-depressive bouts nor where she is. The actor’s job is nevertheless to ground the character in emotional reality; Viramontes doesn’t.

Cut to a Man (Timothy Todd) attempting to lead a New Age-y workshop in (we guess) crystal therapy, but his own severe doubts about thinking positively and spiritually get in the way. Durang’s target is more focused here, and so is the comedy; this helps Todd, but his uneasy sense of timing weakens the delivery.

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In true Durang fashion, the second half of the play marks a radical shift, with the characters finding that they’re dreaming the same dream. The Woman’s recurring dream, reliving her supermarket outburst, is a director’s chance to shine, but Wood doesn’t stage it as it should be--fast and ferocious.

That leads to the other Durang paradox: the more violent his comedy, the more convincing his happy reconciliation at the end. Although Todd serves some goofy moments, as “The Infant of Prague” on a TV chat show being dreamed by the Woman, the actors’ uncertainty fails to sell us on Durang’s somewhat happy ending.

Still, beyond this production lingers the question of whether the sting of Durang’s satire has dissipated 10 years later, along with the Reagan era and New Age trendiness.

* “Laughing Wild,” Orange Coast College Drama Lab Studio, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Sunday. $5-$6. (714) 432-5880. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Laura Viramontes: Woman

Timothy Todd: Man

An Orange Coast College Repertory production of Christopher Durang’s comedy. Directed by Chad Wood. Set: Alex Vogel . Lights: Tom Schilling . Costumes: Erik Lawrence.