Enormous Energy Needed to Keep ‘Dirigible’ Aloft

On May 6, 1937, the airship Hindenburg burst into flames above a New Jersey airfield. Of the 97 people trapped aboard, 62 survived. Despite that relatively moderate loss of life, the Hindenburg still resonates as one of the most famous disasters in the 20th century--perhaps because it was one of the most fully documented to that date. Pictures, film clips, even a taped radio broadcast (“The humanity!”) appalled a fascinated public, and passed into history.

Dan Dietz’s “Dirigible,” presented by the Circle X Theatre Company at Theatre/Theater, could be subtitled “On Photography.” Like Sontag’s seminal essay, Dietz’s play posits that the stark and incontrovertible reality of a photographic image can distort the truth and skew history. It’s a good point, and amusingly expressed, at least initially.

However, when it comes to tonal consistency, Dietz has a problem. His play, which starts as a broad social satire, segues into a film noir parody before ultimately winding up in Samuel Beckett territory. It’s a circuitous journey that exhausts a slight conceit.

The action of the play is couched in the form of a “lecture” conducted by egghead conspiracy theorist Dr. Aaron P. Treadwell (Chris LoPrete).

Treadwell insists that the Hindenburg disaster was the result of sabotage. As Treadwell presents his “evidence” of the alleged sabotage (audio clips courtesy of James Grabowski’s splendid sound design), his talk spirals into a surreal melange of scenes, beginning with a “Brady Bunch” lampoon.

When Treadwell receives the photographic proof that his wife, Laura (Gwyn Fawcett), has been cheating on him with another man (David Paul Wichert), his scholarly composure snaps. As does the thin tether that anchors this lighter-than-air vehicle to coherence.

Still, director Debbie Falb follows the faint trail of Dietz’s intentions with pioneer zeal, and the performers, particularly the versatile Fawcett, undertake their journey with conviction and comic skill, until a last-minute load of meaningfulness stops them in their tracks.

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“Dirigible,” Circle X at Theatre/Theater, 6425 Hollywood Blvd., Theatre A, 4th Floor, Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Nov. 17. $15. (323) 461-6069. Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.