‘Unwished’ a Play on Words and Wackiness

Kirk Wood Bromley writes with witty bite, bawdy flair, gender-bending dynamics and iambic pentameter in the romantic comedy “Want’s Unwished Work, or A Birthday Play,” at the Sacred Fools Theater in Hollywood. Intellectual analysis is pitted against lusty love as director Alexander Yannis Stephano whips this shamelessly funny ensemble into a breathless gallop.

Dr. Bertha Lerner (Caroline Gray Andres) opens a psychological research center to work with her idol, the pompous and slightly sinister Dr. Kling (Christopher Paul Hart). The center allows only two men, Kling and his assistant, Erad (Dallas Dickinson), and the gender-questionable housemother, Vazoline (Kurt Carley), who explains his sexual identity by declaring, “I am a man although to manliness I am AWOL.”

Entering the house are the attractive Southerner, Marla (Amy Bryson); the bookish Lydia (Shirley Roeca); and the sensible Corme (Lauren Daniels).

Lonely for lovemaking, Marla’s boyfriend, the insensitive jock Leavus (Michael Houston King), and Lydia’s hippie poet boyfriend, Warren (Scott McShane), don feminine frocks to meet with their sweethearts, and a farce of mistaken identity and cross-purposes ensues.

In a wild but funny tangent, some brash bachelors (Rob Brink, Joe Hernandez-Kolski, Bryan Bellomo and Charles Barrett) scope out the females, and a birthday-gram in the form of the Wishful Waiters (Graham McAnn, Charles Michael Edmonds, Dan Etheridge and Sacha Vaughn) arrives.

M.E. Dunn created an explosion of color between the set and costume design. This production is a wonderful blend of wordsmithing and wackiness.

BE THERE

“Want’s Unwished Work, or A Birthday Play,” Sacred Fools Theater, 660 N. Heliotrope Drive, Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends March 27. $10. (310) 281-8337. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.