‘Bad Television’ Not Programmed for Subtlety

Grittiness is the refuge of first and last resort for many modern dramatists. In “An Evening of Bad Television,” the three short works that comprise Night A of the Non-Prophet Hatching Co.’s festival of one-acts at Theatre/Theater, playwright Matt Pelfrey pushes toward that same cutting edge that has been dulled from overuse by so many practitioners before him.

Pelfrey cunningly captures the mindless babble of his barely post-adolescent characters, but his expressions of youthful angst are more slack-jawed than slacker, his themes so self-evident that they are idiot-proof.

All three playlets preach of the dangers and depravity of society’s television culture. The opener, “Pinky Street,” which concerns an extravagantly dysfunctional family waiting in line to watch the taping of their favorite show, is little more than a comical curtain-raiser for the mayhem that follows. “Sitcom Planet,” the middle play, shows to what absurdly violent lengths people will go when deprived of their television “fix.” The surrealistic closer, “Gore Hounds,” about the dilemma three splatter-movie buffs face when a snuff film they are watching turns suddenly real, is the most visceral work--clinically as well as figuratively speaking.

Jeff Murray ably directs an exuberant young company, which attacks Pelfrey’s dramas with missionary zeal. However, one wishes their energies could have been expended on material more subtly lacerating than this.

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* “An Evening of Bad Television,” Night A of Festival of Short Plays, Theatre/Theater, 6425 Hollywood Blvd., fourth floor, Hollywood. Rotates with Night B on Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 14. $10. (323) 463-2573. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.