David Gieselmann (translation by David Tushingham) flings together some essence of Orton, a hint of Hitchcock, a puddle of Pinter, and an echo of Ionesco in his self-conscious satire of bourgeois values and modern amorality. Whether his play falls into the meritorious or the meretricious column will be decided by the audience, but it would seem to be up to the actors to guide this decision. The cast here is straight out of a reality TV show: short on subtlety, out of control, shrill and antic-like unschooled children improvising a crude play with dirty words. There's not enough grace in Scott Cummins' direction to overcome the sickening effect of the verbal and physically smeared filth that emanates from the somehow familiar situation-who's afraid of Edward Albee?-of a couple invited to a foodless dinner, then set upon in vicious game-playing for real.
Ralf (Kenneth Alan Williams) and Sarah (Amy Farrington) have invited the mousy Edith (Jen Ded) and the short-fused Bastian (Thomas Vincent Kelly) to spend the evening in their upscale flat (sweet set design by Charles Erven). The socially retarded couples banter unfruitfully until the script whips into shape as a sadistic comedy of bad manners, a sickening display of artless brutality, violence that includes the exercise of most bodily functions: vomiting, urinating, bleeding, punching out, killing, and throwing pizza and whipped cream at each other, the latter courtesy of the hapless Pizza Man (Brad C. Light), who might well have wished he'd been given the wrong address. What's needed here is soap and a good purgative. What we get offered in explanation is a triple display of total nudity by the three "victors" of this violent lesson. Revealing themselves apparently makes these monsters human.
Presented by and at the Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A. Wed.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. (Sun. 7 p.m. only on Jan. 22, Feb. 12, and Mar. 5. Dark Wed. 8 p.m. Jan. 25 and Mar. 1-15.) Jan. 21-Mar. 19. (310) 477-2055.