Much of the brash lunacy of Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy comes through with remarkable piquancy in this revival by New York Deaf Theatre, performed in American Sign Language while two actors on the sidelines provide the spoken dialogue. The play, briefly on Broadway in 1982 and the basis for a 1987 Robert Altman film, deals in screwball-comedy fashion with the perils of bisexual romance among a group of 30-ish Manhattan neurotics.
The script derives considerable humor from its loopy dialogue masquerading as straight-faced conversation. The production's format occasionally blurs the rhythms in the more frenzied exchanges. For the most part, though, it works surprisingly well, and the expressive performances of the six-person signing cast, under the canny direction of Garrett Zuercher, are delightful, sometimes almost mesmerizing.
As Bruce, who lives with his male lover, Bob, but wants to marry a woman as well, Christopher Tester creates a sympathetic fulcrum for the farcical proceedings, making the character's manic neediness extremely engaging. Hillary Baack supplies a smart contrast as the uptight Prudence, the woman who answers Bruce's personal ad.
Lurking in the baggage carried around by these two are their therapists. As Ms. Wallace, Bruce's permanently addled therapist, Anne Tomasetti brings the plum role to life with uninhibited pantomime, while Aaron Kubey captures the studied obnoxiousness of Prudence's lecherous therapist, Stuart. Darren Fudenske makes merry with Bob as the character grows increasingly frustrated with Bruce's sexual inclusiveness.
Zachary Linnert and Caroline Burrows handle the spoken text admirably. Their readings intimate character while remaining rather neutral, allowing the audience's attention to focus on the signing actors. The effect is much like subtitles in a foreign-language film.
To adjust the play to deaf characters, director Zuercher explains in the program that he's turned to videophoning to accommodate the many telephone conversations. And because videophones didn't exist during the play's original time frame, he's modernized some of the many pop-culture references. The changes are hardly intrusive. Beyond Therapy remains durably Durang.
Presented by New York Deaf Theatre
at the Actors Theatre Workshop, 145 W. 28th St., NYC.
May 6-20. Fri. and Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 1 and 7 p.m. (No performance Sat., May 12.)
(212) 864-4444 or www.smarttix.com.