Entertaining Mr. Sloane

By GREG EVANS

A Classic Stage Company presentation of a play in two acts by Joe Orton. Directed by David Esbjornson.
 
Cast: Ellen Parker (Kath), Neil Maffin (Sloane), George Hall (Dadda), Brian Murray (Ed).
 

David Esbjornson's buoyant staging of "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" shows Joe Orton's breakthrough work to be as durable as black leather. The playwright's perverse spin on parlor comedy might not have the shock value it did back when Carnaby Street ruled -- what does? -- but the 32-year-old "Sloane" still seduces.

Perhaps the most striking thing about the slick, quick-paced production at the Classic Stage Co. is that it makes clear just how well crafted the play is. As much as its subject matter subverted, and still subverts, convention, the play's structure is as tightly bound as a knot. Orton develops his characters bit by bit, his plot line by witty line, and if Esbjornson sometimes employs a broad swipe where a smaller stroke would do, the Off Broadway staging generally lets "Sloane" speak for itself.

Esbjornson does toss at least one curveball -- the casting of Neil Maffin as Sloane. The lanky, hawk-faced actor isn't the beefcake stud usually cast as the amoral bisexual who charms his way into a middle-class household. Maffin, though no slouch in a bath towel, relies more on a sonorous voice and steely intelligence to work his seductions. Sloane gets what he wants by giving others what they think they want, and the machinations are evident in Maffin's every smarmy smile.

Sloane is a 20-year-old sociopath who takes a room in the home of Kath (Ellen Parker), a lusty middle-aged hausfrau who cloaks her desire for the boy with only the barest sheen of maternal concern. Older brother Ed (Brian Murray), a businessman whose pieties can't disguise a too-keen interest in leather and wrestling, also has eyes for the boy, and the first half of the play focuses on the sibling rivalry to "entertain" Mr. Sloan.

Rounding out the family is Dadda (George Hall), a befuddled old man who might or might not remember his own scandalous connection to Sloan. Before he and the curtain fall, Dadda will set in motion Sloan's comeuppance.

Despite Orton's obvious affinity for his sneaky, scheming characters, he was as cruel to them as they are to one another. In this production, Parker's Kath gets the brunt of the sadism, with the buxom actress forced to cram herself into a series of unflattering costumes -- including a stamp-sized nightie that's easily the bluntest of Esb-jornson's blunt touches. Parker bears up as well as can be expected, but this production's Kath always seems a step behind in the three-way battle of wills -- at least until Sloane's downfall.

Murray couldn't be better as Ed, alternately buffoonish, cruel and shrewd, and sometimes all at once. Hall is equally good in the smaller role of the father, suggesting a darkness lurking beneath the old-age confusion.

Tech credits are fine, although Narelle Sissons' drawing-room set is needlessly surrounded by piles of garbage and debris, another of the production's infrequent but obvious excesses. Esbjornson could have used a droller hand here and there, but his "Sloane," like the title character, charms in all the dark places it should.

Set, Narelle Sissons; costumes, Michael Krass; lighting, Frances Aronson; sound, John Kilgore; production stage manager, Linda Harris; general manager, Jason Loewith; casting, Judy Dennis; press, Denise Robert. Artistic director, David Esbjornson; executive director, Mary Esbjornson. Opened Feb. 21, 1996, at the Classic Stage Co. Reviewed Feb. 28; $ 27 top; 171 seats. Running time: 2 HOURS, 20 MIN.