Phoenix's Actors Theatre loves presenting off-center work. It's willing to take risks and mount what the big regional theatres are hesitant to produce. It never goes too far, but just far enough to keep audiences a bit uncomfortable. For the second-to-last show of its current, solid season, it is turning to Benefactors, a four-person battle of manners by Michael Frayn that will make Anglophiles smile and regular Americans scratch their heads.
If it has one drawback, it's the resolute Britishness of the piece, which balances the arcane bureaucracy of public housing development with family politics. The script has some great moments of personal triumph and cluelessness, but it's talky, Act I drags on, and Frayn handles the plot -- about the plan to upgrade a deteriorating section of London with high-rises -- in a surprisingly unsubtle way. By Act II, the play turns electric, but there's a lot to get through first.
At the directorial helm is Matthew Wiener, and he does a lot of good with this highly self-referential and fourth-wall-breaking script. His pacing is sharp and clean, and his staging is incredibly interesting, creating lots of nice implications for character through placement and positioning. He keeps the 70-minute first act bearable and is in complete control when the play picks up in Act II.
Actors Jenn Banda and Maren Maclean are becoming inextricably linked in Arizona theatre due to their very distinctive voices. Placing these two women in contemporary British roles gives their vocal stylings a context: It's as if the two were made to play these parts. Visually, Banda's softness and Maclean's sharp lines also perfectly define the characters of Sheila and Jane. Maclean is the ultimate stiff upper lip and masterly follows her character's arc, while Banda's fuzzy, unfocused edges help define her character's nebulous nature.
For the gents, there's no more exacting a choice than Nicolas Glaeser. A regular at Actors Theatre, he embodies the dark, brooding Colin. This is the type of role in which Glaeser makes his living, and he delivers. Watching his transformation from Act I to Act II is the kind of treat the theatre's patrons pay good money to see.
Wiener takes a chance in casting another local actor, Gene Ganssle, as David, a distracted, goodhearted architect. Ganssle is known as a great comedian -- his Falstaff remains unsurpassed -- so it's easy to forget how strong an actor he is; give him the chance to play domestic drama and he makes us feel remiss for having done so. Ganssle finds a way to make David out-of-touch yet still powerful enough to be empathetic and even attractive.
This is a case of a lot of talent going a long way, even if the play nearly talks itself into a stupor before it finally bursts.
Benefactors runs March 3-19 at the Herberger Theater Center, Stage West, 222 E. Monroe, Phoenix. Tickets: (602) 252-8497. Website: www.actorstheatrephx.org.