MOLLY British playwright Simon Gray based this play loosely on the sensational 1930s murder trial of Alma Rattenbury. He focuses the drama on Molly (Giselle Wolf), a sort of junior-grade Hedda Gabler, who’s fighting off the approach of middle age. She gets her way with everybody by ruthless flirtation, and her catchphrase is, “pretty please with sugar on it.” Seeking security, she has married a rich, elderly Canadian businessman Teddy (Don Moss), but he’s a deaf semi-invalid, their marriage is sexless, and she has strong sexual needs. When she’s attracted to Oliver (Max Roeg), a sullen, lower-class boy from the village, she hires him as her chauffeur, and proceeds to seduce him, despite the disapproval of their respectable spinster housekeeper, Eve (Ann Gee Byrd). When Molly moves Oliver into their house to facilitate their nightly trysts, she becomes so reckless that even Teddy catches on. He fires and humiliates the unstable Oliver, precipitating disaster. Yet Gray’s play is more of a character study than thriller, almost saved from banality by his intriguing portrait of the volatile, neurotic and vulnerable title character. But it goes flat in the perfunctory, final scene. Jeffery Passero directs his fine cast with finesse, on Elizabeth Hayden-Passero’s impeccably tasteful set. Victory Theatre Center, 3326 West Victory Blvd., Burbank; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 4 p.m.; through December 20. (818) 841-5421. (Neal Weaver)
POST There doubtless will be many fine plays written in the future about the Iraq War and its effect on the men and women who served in it. This, however, is not one of them. In Donavan Thomas’ superficial tale about the war’s impact on two longtime friends, Michael (Thomas) returns home and moves into the shabby digs (nicely constructed by Erin Sellnow) of fellow veteran and friend Chuck (Nathanyael Grey). The atmosphere of bonhomie quickly starts to evaporate when Chuck’s girlfriend, Autumn (Jamie Renee Smith), suddenly and inexplicably begins a romance with Michael. It doesn’t take a genius to see at this point that the plot is headed for a tragic love triangle; much of the problem with this clunky script is that the predictable blood-soaked finale takes too long to arrive. Between drinking themselves silly and exchanging barbs, there is some mention of Chuck and Michael’s past experiences as soldiers, but they hardly scratch the surface or explain how these two admittedly “fucked-up” guys got that way. Timothy Gagliardo’s tepid direction doesn’t help. The Flight at the Complex Theater, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Thur.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun. 7 p.m.; through December 20. (323) 960-7740. Loaded Dice Films. (Lovell Estell III)
Tim Sullens
Molly
Ed Krieger
How The Grinch Stole Christmas — The Musical
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GO VIOLATORS WILL BE VIOLATED Casey Smith’s solo mime show (he does scream a lot, but there are almost no decipherable words) consists of 17 brief sketches accompanied by a swath of musical selections in which the silver-haired actor reveals a meticulously crafted and demented insanity. Each character, from a decathlon athlete to a female stripper, is an unwaveringly merciless portrait of self-destruction, which is the evening’s theme. It’s unabashedly puerile, scatological, nihilistic and as funny as hell. Son of Semele Theater, 3301 Beverly Blvd., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 11 p.m.; through December 19. circlextheatre.org. (Steven Leigh Morris) See Theater feature.
