Soggy plot hinders ‘Brutus’

The intrepid folks at A Noise Within execute J.M. Barrie’s problematic fantasy play, “Dear Brutus,” in a keenly orchestrated production that never quite overcomes the limitations of its material.

First produced in 1917, “Brutus” is a bit of antiquarian novelty, rarely produced today, perhaps because it is so sharply divided among an imaginative first act, a prosaic second and a predictable third. In Act 1, we meet the houseguests of the mysterious Lob (Steve Weingartner, substituting for regular cast member Robert Towers), a whimsical fellow who talks to plants and has some hidden motive in assembling this particular party. It’s midsummer’s eve, a time of eldritch and transformative possibility. Perplexed as to why they have been invited to the home of a man they barely know, the women of the group chivy Matey (William Dennis Hunt), Lob’s larcenous manservant, for some clue to his master’s motives. But Matey remains mum save for a pointed warning against venturing into the woods on this of all evenings.

That’s odd, because there are no woods within miles of Lob’s estate -- that is, until a forest suddenly appears in Lob’s garden. This is apparently the Wood of Second Chances, where Lob’s guests -- mostly malcontents who keenly regret the choices they have made thus far -- can chart a new course in their stymied and unsatisfactory lives.

When the doors of Michael C. Smith’s excellent set, evocatively lit by Ken Booth, open on those woods, we fully expect to be transported to an enchanted realm. Sadly, once the characters plunge into the thickets, they encounter not magic but a bog of syrupy sentimentality.

Director Julia Rodriguez-Elliott has put together a superlative cast that neatly navigates the piece’s general marshiness. To her credit, Rodriguez-Elliott infuses the action with bracing acerbity at every conceivable juncture. But her crisp efforts cannot completely offset the intermittently soggy plot.

Some of the actors have an easier time of it than others, such as Bruce Turk as a philanderer trapped between his petulant wife (Jill Hill) and his siren mistress (Abby Craden) -- an amusing love triangle that is refreshingly caustic. Geoff Elliott struggles as Mr. Dearth, a failed artist trapped in a childless marriage to a shrewish wife (resonant Deborah Strang). When the magical woods grant Mr. Dearth a “might have been” daughter (Jessica Berman), all Barry’s false and fetishistic attitudes toward children bubble up, cloyingly, in one overlong scene. It’s not Berman’s fault, nor Elliott’s. It’s just that the sanctified stereotype of girlhood that proved so charming in “Peter Pan” simply doesn’t fly in this more sophisticated adult context. Too bad Barry didn’t have his own second chance, so that he could have deleted the dull patches from this otherwise promising diversion.

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‘Dear Brutus’

Where: A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale

When: See www.anoisewithin.org for schedule

Ends: Dec. 16

Price: $36 to $40

Contact: (818) 240-0910, Ext. 1

Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes