TOM TITUS -- Theater Review

British playwright Joe Orton was to the theater what James Dean was to

the movies -- a bright young talent and an incandescent flame which was

snuffed out all too soon.

Like Dean and his films, Orton had three arresting plays behind him

when he was beaten to death by his deranged lover. He never lived to see

the success of his last one, “What the Butler Saw,” which opened two

years after his death in 1967 -- the same year South Coast Repertory

presented its original production of Orton’s first effort, “Entertaining

Mr. Sloane.”

Since then, SCR has put the other two Orton plays, “Butler” and

“Loot,” on stage, and currently is mounting a reprise production of

“Sloane,” the first of the trio, on the theater’s Second Stage. Here

Orton displayed the cheeky satire and jagged-edge humor he would hone to

perfection in the more accomplished “Butler.”

In “Entertaining Mr. Sloane,” a young and somewhat devious fellow

rents a room from a middle-aged woman who obviously harbors feelings

toward him that have nothing to do with a monthly rent check. The problem

is, her brother appears to have the same designs, while her father seems

repulsed by the newcomer.

Orton’s work is a bit spotty in this one, introducing plot lines and

situations that never really develop. Yet he creates moments of caustic

comedy, the sort which dominate the swifter-paced “Butler.”

Director Martin Benson underscores these nuggets -- such as the

landlady’s extended dialogue without her dentures and her carefully

orchestrated seduction -- with accomplished precision.

Jane Carr, an English actress well grounded in Orton (she played in a

1975 version of “Butler”), is the heart and soul of this dark comedy.

Emphasizing her frumpiness and drawing out her dialogue much like Brenda

Blethen in “Secrets and Lies,” Carr presents a hilariously pathetic

character in relentless sexual pursuit.

As the title character, J. Todd Adams gravitates between feigned

naivete and heated emotional frenzy, playing all three of the other

characters like a master violinist. Adams is at his most effective when

letting his audience in on his schemes with subtle facial gestures.

Simon Billig is a disturbing presence as the overbearing brother,

tense and sinister, never actually making his homosexuality an issue, but

rather a deft implication. It is an artificial but ultimately effective

interpretation.

As the household’s doddering old patriarch, Hal Landon Jr. delivers a

marvelously etched portrayal of the sort he’s specialized in these last

three decades at SCR. Landon’s crotchety oldster disrupts the

pseudo-romantic atmosphere splendidly.

Myung Hee Cho’s detailed, two-level setting perfectly establishes the

lower-class background of the play.

“Entertaining Mr. Sloane” may not be every playgoer’s cup of English

tea, since Orton is at best an acquired taste and this was his first

successful effort. Yet the sharply honed, insightful satirical thrusts of

this play mark a playwright destined for greater things had not fate

cruelly intervened.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Thursdays and Saturdays.

FYI

WHAT: “Entertaining Mr. Sloane”

WHERE: South Coast Repertory Second Stage, 655 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

WHEN: Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:45 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at

2 and 7:45 p.m. until Oct. 22

COST: $26-$47

CALL: (714) 708-5555