‘Lava’ Runs Deep in Comedy and Ecological Grievances

Two men meet in a desolate landscape. They are thirsty, exhausted, nearly out of supplies, with a chill night coming on. But are they truly lost? Or have they fallen through the cracks into some alternate reality where pagan gods reign, mischievous ghosts walk and erring humans are called to account for their earthly misdeeds?

Set in Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island of Hawaii, Edward Sakamoto’s “Lava,” produced by East West Players, is an intriguing existential comedy in the best tradition of “Waiting for Godot.” And, while Sakamoto could certainly benefit from a touch more of Beckett’s intellectual restraint, his sense of mythic playfulness is nothing short of rollicking.

A haole (white guy) from the mainland, Howard (Lawrence Novikoff) is a successful travel writer whose far-flung wanderings haven’t put a dent in his intrinsic bigotry. Sam (Keone Young), a native Hawaiian, has never set foot off the Big Island. Howard’s articles bring more tourists flooding into already overtaxed areas. Sam pilfers volcanic rock to make ashtrays, which he peddles by the roadside. Despite their vastly different backgrounds--and incomes--both are ecological marauders, out to make a buck at the expense of the environment. But now they’re stranded on Pele’s home turf--and the plenty peeved goddess is poised for a rumble.

In a rightfully overblown and lighthearted staging, director Shizuko Hoshi sometimes overdoes too much of a good thing, as Novikoff’s initially strained mugging attests. By having Novikoff perform flat-out from the get-go, Hoshi demonstrates a basic mistrust of her material. A little opening subtlety would not kill the comedy but enhance it. By welcome contrast, Young builds more gradually to the surreal broadness of his later scenes.

Decked out in Mako’s striking prosthetic puppets and Dori Quan’s colorful costumes, Mimosa and Janice Terukina are great fun as two weird visitors--ghostly emissaries sent to trick and destroy Sam and Howard. Both actresses handle the mechanics of their puppet appendages with impressive dexterity, and both are remarkably expressive--especially considering that their faces are completely obscured. Terukina plays an uncannily wizened crone; Mimosa an impossibly towering sexpot. For both, the effect is as genuinely creepy as it is comic.

Scott Nagatani’s haunting sound design--a juxtaposition of the serene with the cacophonousenhances Sakamoto’s basic themes. Chris Tashima’s set design works seamlessly with Rae Creevey’s lighting. When the fissures in those volcanic rocks start glowing an ominous red, we know the protagonists are in deep lava.

Howard, the cartoonishly insensitive white guy, may be a convenient foil, but Sakamoto’s depiction of him is sometimes mean-spirited. However Sakamoto’s pointand it’s a point well takenis that even small-scale degradations, such as Sam’s, add up to ecological genocide. It’s a shared responsibility and a shared blame, which Sakamoto’s occasionally uneven dialectic richly reflects.

* “Lava,” David Henry Hwang Theater, Union Center for the Arts, 120 N. Judge John Aiso St. (formerly N. San Pedro), Little Tokyo. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2 p.m. (no matinee this Saturday). $22-$27. (800) 233-3123. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.