A Wild Blend of Wit and the Macabre Fills ‘Madman and the Nun’

Back in 1927, art, madness and Freudian analysis coalesced in the fevered dramatic vision of Stanislaw Witkiewicz’s “The Madman and the Nun”--a work so impenetrably weird and heavy-handed it languished in obscurity for decades.

All the more reason to relish director Ron Campbell and Buffalo Nights Theatre Company’s witty, macabre new adaptation, which mines gold from Witkiewicz’s absurdist psychodrama.

Campbell’s quasi-environmental asylum staging brings theme-park ambience to the ordeal of institutionalized poet Alexander Walpurg (Maury Sterling) and his would-be benefactor, Sister Anna (Renee Ridgeley). Tasked with infiltrating the madman’s defenses, Anna finds herself seduced by his artistic genius and erotic magnetism, which taps into her own repressed impulses--eventually leading her to switch sides.

Not that it takes much coaxing to turn her against the asylum wardens. Barely distinguishable from inmates, the orderlies (Kevin Weisman and Ron Garcia) dispense medication and secure straitjackets with comical ritualized choreography. The medical staff includes a complex-obsessed analyst (Jeff Maynard), a gender-switching skeptic (Lorin Shapiro) and a maniacally grinning drug-addicted professor (Evan Arnold). An abusive Mother Superior (Beth Kennedy) and submissive nurse (Rebecca Byrkit) hardly qualify as sisters of mercy. To the ever-present accompaniment of Hoagie K. Hill’s evocative music and sound effects, these characters engage in an increasingly frenetic dance of life, death and resurrection.

Rather than excuse or mediate the work’s dreamlike lack of continuity, Campbell’s talented cast celebrates its incoherence with whimsical enthusiasm utterly free of pretense. Their unconventional assault is the theatrical equivalent of electroshock treatment--only far more enjoyable.

* “The Madman and the Nun,” Powerhouse Theatre, 3116 2nd St., Santa Monica. Fridays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends May 2. $15. (310) 289-2999. Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.

‘Much Ado’ About Gender Role Swaps

Despite the tempting possibilities for gender-bent reinterpretations raised by all-female casting, the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company remains committed to faithful, insightful staging in its “Much Ado About Nothing” at [Inside] the Ford theater.

Just as the all-male casts of Shakespeare’s time conscientiously assumed female roles, this company’s hard-working women apply themselves with the same diligence to their portrayals of men.

At the center of this agreeable production is Lisa Wolpe’s hilariously virile Benedick. Sporting a wispy beard and a swagger worthy of a lumberjack, Wolpe propels the comedy as her character is tricked into romancing his bitter enemy, the sharp-tongued Beatrice (Kelly Coffield). Together, they make engaging sparring partners, even as their romance blossoms with heartfelt rhythm and pace.

Less convincing is the parallel courtship between Benedick’s fellow soldier Claudio (Kimberleigh Aarn) and the slandered maiden Hero (Katrinka Wolfson, substituting for Lina Patel). For all his youth, Claudio already has shown his prowess in battle, and Aarn could invest more warrior energy into the role, even tapping some of Othello’s jealous rage in similarly misguided circumstances. Also in need of more imperious demeanor is the reigning Don Pedro (Joyce Guy, a last-minute replacement when the original lead departed for a movie role).

Notable supporting performances include Mary Eileen O’Donnell as Hero’s aggrieved father, Leonato, and Amy Hill’s clueless constable, Dogberry. Natsuko Ohama (who co-directed with Wolpe), is a suitably dour, scheming Don John.

Elina Katsioula’s intricate Neoclassic set embraces this elegant romp, whose commitment to Shakespeare’s text is never in doubt, even if some of its males are a bit, well, effeminate.

* “Much Ado About Nothing,” [Inside] the Ford, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Los Angeles. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends April 30. $15-$20; Wednesdays and Thursdays, two-for-one. (310) 289-1487. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.

‘Kindertransport’ Carries War Scars

Not all survivors of the Holocaust carry the scars tattooed on their arms. For thousands of children sent away by their German Jewish families in the 1930s to escape the Nazis, the wounds are hidden but no less destructive or enduring. In the Santa Monica Playhouse revival of Diane Samuels’ “Kindertransport,” sensitive staging and performances illuminate the long-term damage inflicted on those child refugees.

Samuels condensed the stories of many such victims into a pivotal life crisis for her central character, Evelyn (Molly Cheek), an uptight British matron obsessed with maintaining a veneer of middle-class normality. When her daughter (Leslie Rutberg, alternating with Heather Ross) unearths some memorabilia from Evelyn’s childhood, the past she tried to disown erupts in a series of harrowing flashbacks.

As Evelyn’s younger self, Eva, Laura Lazarus Frankel (alternating with Tamar Shaham) re-creates the girl’s painful, uncomprehending separation from her natural mother (Evelyn Rudie), her solitary journey by train and boat to England, and the eventual sanctuary she found in the home of a supremely patient and caring foster mother (Dianne Turley Davis).

But happy endings are hard to come by, and Cheek reveals in full measure the terrible price Evelyn paid for her new English life. John Waroff appears as a series of authoritarian figures, some intimidating, some benevolent and all linked to Eva’s secret childhood terror--the fairy tale of the sinister children-stealing Ratcatcher. Confronting that fear as an adult brings Evelyn face to face with the postwar encounter that sealed her emotional life--the most terrible decision a daughter could ever have to make.

Simple, direct performances from the well-cast ensemble allow pathos to flow naturally from the story. Director Chris DeCarlo skillfully solves the demanding logistics of overlapping time frames and story lines on an intimate stage.

* “Kindertransport,” Santa Monica Playhouse Main Stage, 1211 4th St., Santa Monica. Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 6:30 p.m. Ends June 27. $18-$20. (310) 394-9779. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.