Stock ‘Black Comedy’ Furnishes Few Laughs

Peter Shaffer’s one-act “Black Comedy” is a paltry choice for a full evening in the theater, and International City Theatre’s revival does little to alter that impression.

As sculptor Brindsley Miller and his fiancee prepare for a party in his London apartment, circa 1965, the lights go out--for the characters, that is. For the audience in Long Beach’s Center Theater, the play begins in darkness, and the stage lights go on only when the fictional lights go out.

During the rest of the play, we see the characters stumbling about, their “darkness” broken only when a character lights a match--at which point the stage lights fade (Rand Ryan designed the lighting). For complicated plot reasons, the matches are doused and the stumbling resumes.

The laughs result not only from the lighting, or lack of it, but also from Brindsley’s many needs. He’s trying to impress his fiancee’s father and a rich German who might buy his art. So, without asking, he has borrowed fancy furniture from a vacationing neighbor--who returns unexpectedly. Also returning unexpectedly is Brindsley’s former girlfriend.

Yet the laughter never rides atop an irresistible wave. The first part of the play passes without much mirth. Only when Brindsley begins moving furniture back into his neighbor’s apartment do the chuckles begin to percolate.

Matt Gourley’s lithe Brindsley capably performs an intricate balancing act with the furniture and the unexpected guests. The unobserved return of his ex, Stacy Barnhisel, adds to the laughter.

The other characters do their assigned shtick well enough. Tom Dugan, as the would-be father-in-law, barks military jargon. Eileen T’Kaye plays the sedate neighbor who gradually becomes sloshed. Karen Stapleton is a ninny of a girlfriend, and Ted Barton is a swishy stereotype as the neighbor.

But no one escapes the feeling of stock characterizations. Maybe this play has had its day. At least Bradley Kaye’s set and Kim DeShazo’s costumes remind us of that day, injecting a merry dash of mod mid-’60s color.

“Black Comedy,” Center Theater, Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends March 17. $27-$35. (562) 436-4610. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.