‘Twelfth’ explored in revival

The shapes of fancy may not be highly fantastical in “Twelfth Night” at the Hayworth Theatre, but they have agreeable validity and pitch. This thoughtful ‘30s-era revival of Shakespeare’s gender-bending classic by Circus Theatricals certainly explores the text.

Actually, despite costumer Laura Brody’s monochromatic period fashions, stylistics are not specific, and the austere set by Victoria Profitt might be a Fellini circus tent, a Murnau film set, a Beckett dreamscape. Musician-composer Julia Devine enters with her accordion, and the center drape reveals Duke Orsino (Mario Schugel), petulantly posed in a window for “If music be the food of love, play on.” It next unveils shipwrecked Viola (Jade Sealey), and thus “Twelfth Night” charts its lyrically romantic course around Illyria.

Director Jack Stehlin takes a decidedly seriocomic approach. If the darker elements sometimes mute the sexually confused buoyancy, they rarely slow the narrative flow, and Stehlin gets estimable work from his poised players.

Sealey finds tickling baritone notes in Viola’s male disguise, with finely judged asides. She dovetails nicely with Schugel’s droll, intense Orsino and Francesca Ferrara’s beautifully clear-spoken Olivia. Josh Allen gives Sebastian striking vitality, and if Daniel Hart Donoghue’s devoted Antonio needs more vocal levels, his intentions are vivid.

Christopher Curry is a brilliantly detailed Malvolio, hitting a delusional peak in Act 2. Jordan Lund makes a domineering Sir Toby Belch, actively conspiring with Katherine Griffith’s delightfully raucous Maria and Robert Cicchini’s Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who resembles Harold Lloyd with Carol Channing’s hair. Buffs should value this intelligent reading, which strives to please throughout.

-- David C. Nichols

“Twelfth Night,” Hayworth Theatre, 2511 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Ends Oct. 20. $25. (323) 960-1054 or www.circustheatricals.com. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

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‘Goblin’ satisfies as chilling fable

Post-Freudians have had a field day ferreting out the subtexts in “Goblin Market,” Christina Rossetti’s 1862 poem about a young woman’s addiction to fruit sold by goblin merchants. After an initial gorge, the woman is unable to obtain any more of the poisonous pleasure and languishes near death. Braving the goblin glen, her virtuous sister is smeared with the goblins’ fruit, then rushes home to her ailing sibling, who licks the healing juices off her and is cured.

Arguably, Rossetti was unaware of the erotic undercurrents in her children’s classic or of its arresting parallels to drug addiction. Yet for all its interpretations, “Goblin Market” works best as a dark-hued fairy tale, simply told. First produced in the mid-1980s, the musical adaptation, which features music by Polly Pen and book by Pen and Peggy Harmon, is an elegant recapitulation that succeeds as a chilling fable and as a homage to sororal devotion.

Director Martin Bedoian lets the story speak for itself in his stylish, straightforward staging at the Grove Theater Center Burbank. Much about the production is optimal, particularly Jason Z. Cohen’s striking scenic design and Dave Mickey’s superlative lighting and sound.

Optimal also is Tami Tappan Damiano’s pitch-perfect performance as Laura, the errant sister who strays from the path of Victorian propriety with near-fatal results. Jennifer Pennington brings considerable empathy to her portrayal of Lizzie, Laura’s savior sister, but lacks the vocal ability that would put her on a par with Damiano. Under the musical direction of Philip White, Pennington manages her harmonies nicely but is missing the operatic range required in certain solos -- a deficit that, although not disastrous, is persistently problematic.

-- F. Kathleen Foley

“Goblin Market,” GTC Burbank, 1111-B W. Olive Ave., Burbank. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends Oct. 20. $20. (800) 836-3006. www.syzygytheatre.org. Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.

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‘Lime’ offers taste of writer’s progress

Revisiting a noted playwright’s early work raises an essential set of hindsight questions. Can we spot the original seeds of talent? Were there signs of the creative voice to come? Had the trademark thematic obsessions begun to emerge? In the case of Conor McPherson’s “This Lime Tree Bower,” now at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, the answers are unequivocally yes across the board. But this doesn’t necessarily mean the play is a successful one or that the current production deserves praise.

On a Minimalist stage, three Irishmen take turns recounting tall tales from their booze-soaked lives. The youngest, Joe (Sean Wing), is a high schooler who gets involved with the wrong crowd. His brother Frank (David Agranov) is a petty criminal who’s trying to get his father out of debt. The oldest speaker is Ray (Cyrus Alexander, who alternates nights with Dameon Clarke), a college professor who wants to write a book that no one will read. Eventually, the characters’ crisscrossing monologues converge to provide a bigger but still fractured panorama of their complicated relationships.

Currently hot Broadway property thanks to the successes of “Shining City” and “The Weir,” McPherson wrote this play when he was only 23, and it’s clearly the work of a writer still finding himself. The characters are archetypal, and their monologues have a wooden, scripted feel. This unevenly acted production does little to make its protagonists empathetic; in fact, they mostly come off as insufferable drunks.

But for McPherson fans, the play provides valuable insight into the author’s main obsession: the act of storytelling by unreliable narrators. However tiresome these characters may seem, the playwright doesn’t insist that you like or trust them, only that you listen to their words.

-- David Ng

“This Lime Tree Bower,” Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends Nov. 4. $26. (310) 477-2055 or www.odysseytheatre.com. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

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Melodrama clouds effect of ‘Spring’

Before its recent Tony-winning incarnation as a “Rent”-meets-”Dead Poets Society” musical, “Spring Awakening” traveled a bumpy road to acceptance on the American stage. Penned in 1891, German playwright Frank Wedekind’s social-psychological drama was frequently banned outright for its revolutionary sexual frankness.

Undaunted, the Production Company’s nonmusical revival returns to Wedekind’s original text, as translated by Francis Z. Zeigler and newly adapted by director August Viverito. A valiant cast succeeds in capturing the stark contours of Wedekind’s main theme: the tragic consequences of a repressive society that keeps adolescents in a state of “innocence” -- i.e., ignorance -- about their own sexuality. Much of the effect is blunted, however, by over-the-top melodrama and limited resources.

Set in and around a strict German middle school in the 1890s, the play’s starkly unromantic depiction of youths entering puberty is striking in its clinical detachment. The perky charm of 14-year-old Wendla (Abbie Cobb) and the soulful brooding of rebellious schoolboy Melchior (Adam Kalesperis) define their characters but enlist little sympathy, particularly in the profound absence of affection in their brutal coupling.

Self-absorbed and clueless as they try to cope with raging hormones, the young characters are routinely betrayed by their hypocritical elders (JC Henning and Thomas Mikusz playing all the adult roles), who fail to provide guidance and understanding. Melchior’s schoolmate (Wyatt Fenner), driven mad by pornography and guilt, becomes the heavy-handed casualty of their neglect.

Unfortunately, Zeigler’s stilted translation favors literalism over naturalism, and we’re constantly hit with mannered dialogue, such as “I believe that is the whirlpool into which one runs when one avoids the shoals of religious folly.”

The effort affords a stage training opportunity for enthusiastic young actors, but for the audience it’s pretty much like boot camp.

-- Philip Brandes

“Spring Awakening,” Chandler Studio Theatre Center, 12443 Chandler Blvd., North Hollywood. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Ends Oct. 27. $20. (800) 838-3006 or www.theprodco.com. Running time: 2 hours.