‘Disapproval’ Suggests Small Towns, Big Vices

Alan Ayckbourn’s “A Chorus of Disapproval,” now at the Long Beach Playhouse’s Studio Theatre, is a lengthy and meandering play that is chiefly interesting because of its milieu--a far-flung village in contemporary South Wales. Despite their exotic Welsh environs, Ayckbourn’s villagers--the same tweedy eccentrics who have been a British staple since Trollope--are about as novel as Christmas crackers and clotted cream. Ayckbourn’s point--and he takes his sweet time in making it--appears to be that small towns harbor as much teeming amorality under their serene surfaces as any urban Gomorrah.

If you’re a fan of “Masterpiece Theatre” at its most leisurely, you’ll find the premise diverting. Guy Jones (Jonathan Nail), a widower from Leeds, joins a Welsh operatic society, an insular group that greets Guy as the “new blood” they’ve been longing for--in the most metaphorically vampiric sense. A naif, despite his big-city origins, gullible Guy proves ripe for seduction. First, artistic director Dafydd Ap Llewellyn (Ciro Barbaro) tries to lure Guy into a real estate scam. Then, Guy has affairs with Dafydd’s wife (Susan Gordon) and the town nymphomaniac (Beverly Turner). But as Guy’s morality plummets, his fortunes within the company rise--from bit part to starring role.

Ayckbourn’s complicated play-within-a-play--which splices musical scenes from Gay’s “The Beggar’s Opera” with the main action--requires a large cast and elaborate costume and scene changes. Eugene McDonald’s set and Donna Fritsche’s costumes rise to occasion. Steven Fiorillo’s stilted, unfortunately farcical staging does not. And the language proves an insurmountable barrier to the performers, who so badly butcher their dialects that amateurism prevails for much of this overlong evening.

* “A Chorus of Disapproval,” Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach. Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Jan. 16, 2 p.m. Dark Sunday-Jan. 6. Ends Jan. 22. $12 to $15. (562) 494-1616. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.