Two Plays, a Little Slight, but Still Harold Pinter

In the second production of the Lost Studio’s ongoing Pinter Project, two of Harold Pinter’s slighter works are dusted off and given a well-produced, well-acted outing.

The bill begins with the humorous ditty “Victoria Station,” in which a London cab company dispatcher (Robert Romanus) deals with a clueless cabby (voiced by Robert Reinis).

On Dan Cowan’s versatile set, the action smoothly switches to the tidy residence of Albert (Sean Parkinson alternating with Mark Adair Rios) and his mother, Mrs. Stokes (Constance Forslund double cast with Pamela Gordon) in “A Night Out.” The widowed Mrs. Stokes is a master of passive-aggressive martyrdom. With a sigh and an air of hurtful reproach, she natters on, listing Albert’s real and imagined transgressions. Albert attends a disastrous office party that results in a confrontation with his mother.

Parkinson portrays Albert as an innocent who is used by the more cunning or manipulative people with whom he associates. Forslund’s Mrs. Stokes is frustrated and confined by powerlessness and loneliness.

Director Cinda Jackson fills these slight dramas with nuanced interactions that reflect urban isolation and the looming threat of violence that results. Her choreography of the party scene speaks volumes about the social relationships of these co-workers, but the script goes nowhere with these intimations.

Neither play is particularly satisfying together or separately, but perhaps this production is best viewed as one part of a whole, another polished segment of this company’s Pinter Project.

* “A Night Out” and “Victoria Station,” the Lost Studio, 130 S. La Brea Ave., West Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends July 28. $15. (323) 933-6944. Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes.