A Dogged Pursuit of Symbolism

A person can be hit over the head with only so much symbolism before wanting to hit back.

That exasperation level doesn’t take long to reach while sitting through “And Still the Dogs.”

Every character is an archetype, every line a political statement in first-time playwright Brian Cousins’ cautionary tale about an American businessman tangled in a dangerous liaison with an Eastern European beauty.

The result is a sort of Eastern European “M. Butterfly,” but without any of that play’s subtlety and without an identity shift anywhere near so clever.

Still, the Los Angeles branch of New York’s Ensemble Studio Theatre approaches the material with such courage and commitment that it becomes a chilling descent into darkness.

The action unfolds in an unspecified country still shell-shocked from the revolution that overthrew Communism.

Decrepitude hangs over Jason Adams’ set.

Nearly every surface is covered by plywood, corrugated metal or plastic sheeting--the sorts of unsightly barriers erected while renovations are being made to old buildings.

In a burst of overoptimistic capitalism, advertising posters have multiplied like weeds across these temporary surfaces.

Two American businessmen--one known only as the Man (Garrett M. Brown), the other named Roger (Colin Mitchell)--visit the country in hopes of sealing a deal to distribute their products through intermediaries.

The Man--who is married, with children--encounters Emilia (Jacqueline Wright), a native of the country, at a disco and recklessly launches into an affair.

Things get off to a passionate start, but the big, boisterous, self-satisfied Man begins to wear on Emilia’s nerves.

And then her past comes back to threaten them both.

(Separate casts perform Thursdays-Fridays and Saturdays-Sundays, except for Brown, who handles the central role every day but Sundays, when Cousins takes over. The actors reviewed are from the Thursday-Friday cast.)

Dan Bonnell’s direction doesn’t always zip the action along, but Brown helps to keep the show on track with his portrait of American arrogance and obliviousness.

Mitchell is a nice contrast as his conscience-stricken partner, but Wright gets hung up in the odd, strangled poetry that Cousins concocts as Emilia’s lines.

The solid acting carries the play for a while, but the killing that begins and ends the show is just plain stomach-turning.

Before long, “And Still the Dogs” does itself in with heavy-handed symbolism and numbingly self-evident observations.

“And Still the Dogs,” Ensemble Studio Theatre--The L.A. Project at the Lillian Theater, 1076 N. Lillian Way, Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends April 14. $22-$25. (213) 368-9552. Running time: 2 hours.