Theater Reviews: Mercury Fur, Breaking the Code, A Grand Guignol Cabaret

GO  MADNESS IN VALENCIA We get a look-in on Spain’s Golden Age via playwright-poet Lope de Vega’s 1590 farce about love and lunacy, in David Johnston’s pleasing and somewhat audacious 1998 translation. (Johnston’s version adds a second, alternate ending.) Across the English Channel at around the same time de Vega and Calderon were fusing dreams and life in their writings, Shakespeare was toying with similar ideas in both The Winter’s Tale and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In Madness, however, we get no magic potions concocted by the sprites in order to fool mortals into believing they’re donkeys, or “enamored of an ass.” De Vega worked from the presumption that people are either mad, or pretend to be so, without any medicinal help. Floriano (Michael Holmes) arrives in the woods around Valencia in a panic that, for the love of a woman, he’s murdered a local prince. He confesses this fear to a young beauty, Erifila (Vivian Kerr) — a trusting confession, to say the least. Erifila took a servant as she fled from her father and his plans to bind her in an arranged marriage. (The servant strands her in the woods after robbing her of her jewelry and outer garments.) To escape notice, Erifila and Floriano secret themselves in the safest place around — Valencia’s famed mental asylum — where the pair pretend to be nuts, and where the play’s enveloping metaphor for society, and for lovers, takes root. There’s an amiable goofiness in Suzanne Karpinski’s staging of her 13-member ensemble, and this is the right company to pull off a show so influenced by the Italian commedia clowning of the 15th century. Holmes’ Floriano has a hangdog charm that makes him both a persuasive leading man and the idiot savant, depending on whom he’s trying to fool, while Kerr possesses a vivacious esprit that spins, when needed, into the requisite arrogance that accompanies sanctimonious betrayal. Kurt Boetcher’s set relies heavily on burlap and cloth drapery to symbolize the woods, in hues of green and purple. And though Karpinski’s tone is a bit languid at the start, the play’s tangles of attraction, and the accompanying pangs of jealousy, grow increasingly absorbing. For all the technical details and the abundant merits of Karpinski’s production, one does have the feeling that the play has been more staged than interpreted. The canvas on which the work unfolds contains few striking visual motifs that offer an urgent idea of why this play is being performed — beyond the obvious explanation that a few people sort of liked it. As such, it’s a delightful museum piece that could be much more, with a greater breadth of vision. Terrific performances also by Laura Napoli, Juliette Angeli, Brandon Clark and Paul Byrne, among others. Sacred Fools Theatre, Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m. (added perf Sun., June 28, 2 p.m.); through June 28. (310) 281-8337. (Steven Leigh Morris)

GO  MERCURY FUR A cross between A Clockwork Orange and the plays of Sarah Kane, British playwright Philip Ridley’s controversial drama, set in a dystopian London under siege, follows a group of young men desperate to survive. Elliot (Edward Tournier) and his brother Darren (Andrew Perez) clean up an abandoned apartment to prepare for a party organized by their friend and gang leader Spinx (Greg Beam). They are assisted by Naz (Jason Karasev), a friend who happens to live in the building, and their drag queen friend Lola (Jeff Torres), who arrives with a costume for the Party Piece (Ryan Hodge), a barely-conscious “Paki” boy who becomes the center of attention. Once Spinx finally arrives, along with the Duchess (Nina Sallinen), final preparations are made for the Party Guest (Kelly Van Kirk), who will be their salvation from this hellhole. But as the party starts, things go awry in a series of twisted, violent events. Like the songs of the British trance band Prodigy, one of which plays during the final scene, the drama’s layers slowly unfold, culminating in an apocalyptic climax that is foreshadowed, yet nonetheless blows you away with its brutality and horror. Dado’s direction brings out the intensity of her actors, who throw themselves headlong into this nightmarish world and reveal their characters to be at once gritty, reprehensible, funny and pitiable. I left the theater disturbed and affected, which, after all, is the point. Imagined Life Theatere, 5615 San Vicente Blvd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 5 p.m.; through June 28. (800) 838-3006. BrownPaperTickets.com. A Needtheater production (Mayank Keshaviah)

OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS Joe DiPietro’s oft-produced farce about Italian-American family life depends on a few minutes of soppy sentimentality to balance out two hours of caricature. For 29-year-old Nick (Ren Bell), every Sunday night is spent in Hoboken having dinner with both sets of grandparents — four nearly imbecilic characters who fuss and rant but never listen to their grandson, who, in turn, constantly yells at them. When Nick tells them he is moving to Seattle for a big promotion, the old folks move into overdrive to stop him — their big weapon: a blind date with the lovely Caitlin (sweetly played by Alyse Courtney). She shames him for his mistreatment of the grands, which leads to enough household calm to explore some deeper emotions and finally tones the hollering down for the characters to find resolution. The writing is quite funny in its Everybody Loves Raymond style, and the over-the-top performances by Irene Chapman, Klair Bybee, Michele Bernath and director Larry Eisenberg (filling in on a Sunday matinee) garnered constant laughs from an appreciative audience. While the script alternates between bombastic and cloying, Eisenberg keeps his actors fully committed to each moment. Chris Winfield’s very naturalistic suburban living room set also helps keeps the cast grounded in some reality. Lonny Chapman Group Repertory Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through June 27. (818) 700-4878. (Tom Provenzano)