Posted: Sun., Jan. 18, 2009, 5:00pm PT

Off Broadway

Ten Blocks on the Camino Real

(Ohio Theater; 90 seats; $20 top)

By Marilyn Stasio

Ex-boxer Satya Bhabha, in front, encounters Raphael Nash Thompson in 'Ten Blocks on the Camino Real.'

A Target Margin Theater presentation of a play in one act by Tennessee Williams. Directed by David Herskovits.

Esmeralda, et al - Purva Bedi Kilroy - Satya Bhabha Gutman, et al - Curt Hostetter Marguerite Gautier, et al - McKenna Kerrigan Guitar Player - Dara Seitzman Casanova, et al - Raphael Nash Thompson

It must have seemed such a cool idea for an edgy experimental theater company to take on a classic American playwright's single bold attempt to expand his style and vision. But while Target Margin does an amusing job of visualizing "Ten Blocks on the Camino Real" (the original workshop version of Tennessee Williams' 1953 play, "Camino Real"), the company doesn't show much interest in -- or aptitude for -- exploring what lies beneath its surreal exterior. And let's not even talk about the lack of acting chops...

Whatever else you want to say about this cavernous space (it's dark and gloomy and always feels slightly damp), the cellar of the Ohio Theater in Soho is a great place to put on Williams' early attempt to write an experimental play. Under the guiding hand of helmer (and company a.d.) David Herskovits, Target Margin's design staff has transformed the space into a festive setting for a Mexican-flavored nightmare. The concrete walls and support beams are washed in streaky color. Garlands of flowers, paper lanterns and colored lights hang from above, while mounds of lighted candles flicker below.

In this south-of-the-border setting (expressionistically executed by Lenore Doxsee), Asta Bennie Hostetter's gaudy costumes for gypsy fortune-tellers, wandering musicians and sinister street-sweepers look more than appropriate. They look like fun.

Which is the spirit in which Kilroy (Satya Bhabha), a used-up boxer who wears his golden gloves hanging from his neck, initially approaches this pastel paradise. But this quintessentially American vagabond soon discovers the almighty Yankee dollar and his own brash charm don't get him very far.

An expat named Casanova (played with world-weary humor by Raphael Nash Thompson) patronizes him. A fortune-teller and her daughter rob him of his cash. And two menacing street cleaners size him up for a coffin.

In the final scene of this surreal nightmare, the brash young hero finally learns his lesson -- that pride and vanity are out of place in the "real" world he has stumbled into. But by that time, the message barely registers, given Bhabha's one-note perf as Kilroy and the company's disinclination to take his tribulations very seriously.

While it's only fair to note that Williams was not entirely at home in the style of European surrealism, this attempt to expand beyond his customary lyrical naturalism is still open to interpretation.

His dream play could be taken literally -- as the existential shock of an all-American Joe who blunders into a foreign culture -- or politically, with Kilroy playing the part of the U.S.A. It could also be read as a metaphor for the disorientation of an American playwright working in a foreign style. It even plays as psycho-drama -- the fantastic journey of a man with a powerful curiosity about his subconscious fears and desires.

Aside from applying its own spin to the dream quality of the play, Target Margin stays on the text's surface, playing with images and working hard at the language. But that oversized heart ("as big as the head of a baby") that Kilroy keeps going on about? Not a sign of it.

Set and lighting, Lenore Doxsee; costumes, Asta Bennie Hostetter; sound, Jim Breitmeier; musical direction, David Rosenmeyer; production stage manager, Jacqueline Prats. Opened Jan. 18, 2009. Reviewed Jan. 15. Running time: 1 HOUR, 20 MIN.