Remodeling job goes on too long

Finally, they’re leaving. Throughout an evening visit, Yoel’s brother and sister-in-law have described, in unceasing detail, the remodeling work being done to their home. Yoel’s wife has politely participated in the conversation, but Yoel is so weary of the topic that he’s barely bothering to be civil anymore. With the visitors headed out the door, he can at last put the subject behind him.

Or so he thinks.

The stress of remodeling -- lives disrupted by demolition, disagreements about how extensive the changes should be, the deepening suspicion that the more enthusiastic spouse is looking to remodel more than just the house -- provides the context for “The Master of the House.” The play, by the award-winning, sometimes controversial Israeli writer Shmuel Hasfari, is being given its American premiere at the Laguna Playhouse. A comedy at first, the piece develops into a mystery, then a tragedy, its events readable, to those who care to pick up on it, as a commentary on present-day Israel.

It’s a restlessly inquisitive piece, with much in it to admire in Anthony Berris’ crisp translation from Hebrew. Director Richard Stein -- the theater’s executive director, who found the script -- puts it onstage with artistry and vigor.

At more than 2 1/2 hours, however, the show proves rambling and tiresome, overstaying its welcome with much the same obliviousness as Yoel’s guests.

The Tel Aviv apartment in which Yoel (Jonathan Goldstein) and his wife, Nava (Stacie Chaiken), live is nearly 70 years old by the time of the play’s setting, in spring 2001. It’s Yoel’s boyhood home, which he and his wife acquired from his retired parents. The plumbing is blocked, the wiring is unreliable and much of the furniture, left by Yoel’s parents, is decades out of date.

Yoel is happy with everything just as it is. Nava, on the other hand, is ready to tear down some walls and enlarge the windows to let in more light.

You can bet that motivations like that are meant to carry symbolic weight, and, sure enough, the playwright begins to drop hints about why Yoel is so evasive and stubborn and why Nava is determined to break things open. They are childless, yet a 10-year-old (Tyler Logan) puppyishly pesters Yoel. Suicide bombings are mentioned; then a contractor working in the house (Andrew Ross Wynn), discussing his son’s mandatory military service, makes the comment that “this country consumes its sons.”

Not content merely to pursue this theme, the play also wanders into the back-and-forth between the contractor and his 17-year-old son (Brett Ryback), ponders the indignities of old age endured by Yoel’s parents (Joseph Cardinale and Bryna Weiss) and mucks about in the marital affairs of Yoel’s brother and sister-in-law (Barry Alan Levine and Elizabeth Tobias).

The characterizations are fully inhabited and tellingly nuanced, with Wynn scoring extra audience points for his gently humorous way with the advice-dispensing contractor, who also serves as a therapist and social commentator.

Dovetailing with the play’s extensive discussion of Tel Aviv’s architectural history, the set, designed by Narelle Sissons, is constructed largely of oversize blueprints that map Yoel and Nava’s apartment. Tom Ruzika’s lighting helps to keep things in perspective, spatially and emotionally.

Reliably as ever, Laguna Playhouse has got its hands on a recent play that isn’t being produced everywhere else. It’s an impressive, much appreciated feat. Yet while Hasfari’s digressions mirror or amplify his layered themes, they too often prove exasperating.

daryl.miller@latimes.com

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‘The Master of the House’

Where: Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach

When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; also 2 p.m. April 12, 7 p.m. April 22

Ends: April 29

Price: $30 to $65

Contact: (949) 497-2787 or www.lagunaplayhouse.com

Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes