Too Many Characters Crowd Connor’s One-Man ‘Village’

It’s about a pond, and around that pond, writer-performer Michael Connor keeps an overcrowded plate of characters spinning in the one-man “Berkshire Village Idiot,” now at the Gascon Center Theatre.

Connor’s reminiscent of Desmond Askew, who played the Vegas-crazed Simon in the film “Go.” He’s a wild-eyed presence, good with dialects and cross-talk among various characters. He plays himself at age 15, hell-raising all over Berkshire Village, Mass., in love with his Kawasaki motorcycle. He also plays seemingly half the other villagers--well-pickled Uncle Jumbo, his intensely Catholic grandmother and his taciturn father, home after a two-year absence.

There’s a serious father-son clash at the core of Connor’s two-act portrait. It doesn’t get the time it deserves, and something about its violent (and presumably autobiographical) particulars feel dodgy. Too many other, more “colorful” characters jostle for attention. In the early going, especially, you just want Connor to slow down, weed a few of these folks out and concentrate on the best stuff.

Issues of water rights and municipal controversy surrounding the Berkshire Village pond take up much of Act 2. As shaped by Connor and director James Eckhouse, the piece is lively but frustrating, stuck halfway between industry-friendly showcase and something more resonant. Audiences take to Connor. He holds the stage. Now he must figure out what tonal clashes and mixtures, and what stories, he’s after here.

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“Berkshire Village Idiot,” Gascon Center Theatre, Helms Bakery Building, 8737 Washington Blvd., Culver City. Thursdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends April 9. $15. (714) 708-5555. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.