Modern ‘Antigone’ Skillfully Riffs on Classic Tragedy

Last year, you couldn’t put your car in reverse without backing into a production of “Antigone.” The major edition was Cornerstone Theatre Company’s staging, done in the basement of the downtown subway terminal building--a raw, urban cavern of a space, evocatively filled.

That show’s spatial opposite has just opened at the Actor’s Lab, a boxy storefront near Gardner and Sunset in Hollywood, around the corner from Thai Toi’s hipzoids and some very tasty coconut ice cream.

This version of Sophocles’ “Antigone” is tasty, too--not for all tastes, but then, most shows aiming to please all tastes tend to come off virtually flavorless.

It’s a production of the Oasis Theatre Company, titled “Antigone. Tertiary. Sexxx.” Sex, death and cocktails, promise the flyers and programs, and the cocktails--Cosmopolitans--are offered in the lobby, while DJ Dymaxus spins pre-show LPs in the corner.

Gregory Gunter’s raucous collage-style riff on the sad old story begins in the lobby as well. Erica Bradshaw and Doreen Calderon let a breathless stream of gossip flow, catching us up on the goings-on in the House of Oedipus.

Once inside the theater, director Wendy McClellan uses the narrow but deceptively deep stage beautifully, in concert with scenic designer Amy Strong. We first see only a corner of it: Antigone (Karen Foster) natters on about her brothers’ return from battle while her sister, Ismene (Jessica Wallenfels), a.k.a. “Sissy,” dresses for the occasion. Gunter’s text refers to “an almost Clare Booth Luce feel” in this scene, and McClellan runs with the suggestion. Stylistically, this “Antigone” feels like Sophocles doing an R-rated version of “The Women.”

Polynices (Derek Webster) and Eteoclys (Christopher Gerson) hit the stage like a couple of conquering soccer hooligans, receiving a heroes’ homecoming. They want Thebes back, and Uncle Cryon (Michael A. Shepperd) won’t cooperate. Everyone’s sensual currents are running the wrong familial ways.

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Gunter jams his text full of contemporary flotsam--references to Lil’ Kim, Vibe magazine and the like. Some of the facetiousness is just that, merely facetious and reductive. But there’s a lot of skill and energy in the way Gunter has layered his source materials, which include the Book of Psalms and Letters to the Corinthians.

It’s McClellan’s eye and ear that keep it focused. Scene by scene, more of the stage--carved up by various curtains--reveals itself to us, and with it, more of the unraveling family crises. The show has a surprising dynamic range. The best performances, high among them Gerson’s amusingly loutish Eteoclys, go for broke, artfully, but know how to slip into a confidential key.

As inspiration Gunter credits the collage-splatterings of Charles L. Mee (whose “Big Love” was a hit last year at Louisville’s Humana Festival). The early scenes come at you like a blizzard. This “Antigone” risks losing early on even those familiar with the story. But then it grows into itself; it’s as if Gunter, while writing it, figured out how to finesse his theatrical attack. McClellan guides the chaos and the hushed, forbidden bedroom encounters with equal precision.

“Antigone” is a hardy myth indeed.

* “Antigone. Tertiary. Sexxx.,” Oasis Theatre Company at Actor’s Lab, 1514 N. Gardner St., Los Angeles. Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 18. $15. (323) 860-6646. Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes.

Erica Bradshaw: Myra

Doreen Calderon: Ines

Hutchins Foster: Earl

Karen Foster: Antigone

Christopher Gerson: Eteoclys

Jenny Judelle: Beulah

Michael A. Shepperd: Cryon

Jessica Wallenfels: Ismene

Derek Webster: Polynices/Haemon

Written by Gregory Gunter, after Sophocles. Directed by Wendy McClellan. Scenic design by Amy Strong. Costumes by Shon LeBlanc. Lighting by Joshua Jade. Sound by Michael Manz-Brake. Stage manager Alison Merkel.