Off Broadway

Red Sea Fish

 (59E59 - Theater C; 49 seats; $25 top)

By SAM THIELMAN

Matthew Houghton, left, and Tim Blissett flank Janna Fox in Matt Wilkinson's 'Red Sea Fish,' about an isolated father and son.

A 59E59 presentation of a Two Bins, Brighton production of a play in two acts by Matt Wilkinson. Directed by Franklin McCabe and Matt Wilkinson.
 
Ray ... Tim Blisset
Terry ... Matthew Houghton
Karen ... Janna Fox
 

Shut-ins from the British Isles have fared badly on stage in plays from Pinter's "The Caretaker" to Enda Walsh's "The Walworth Farce," so there's no reason to expect anything but profanity-filled misanthropy from Ray and Terry, a father and son confined to their apartment by Ray's possibly fictional illness in Matt Wilkinson's "Red Sea Fish." A pretty girl inexplicably attracted to Terry creates some tension between the two men, but while perfs range from very good to astonishing, we've grown so accustomed to total insanity that mild dysfunction just isn't that interesting, however stylish the writing conveying it.

Wilkinson, who co-directs the play with Franklin McCabe, has a surprising gift for turn of phrase that makes "Red Sea Fish" easy on the ears even though it doesn't go anywhere terribly interesting. The cadences of lower-class Brit slang come so easily to him that his characters seem born to say things like "I should cocoa" and whack each other with the c-word every three seconds.

Played by Tim Blissett, Ray is far and away the most interesting character here. He suffers from erythropoietic protoporphyria, a rare disease whose main symptom is painful photosensitivity, but he also appears to suffer from some slightly more generic mental complaints that cause him to have waking nightmares and talk to himself. He also collects newspaper obituaries.

The most interesting and impressive thing about him is how incredibly charismatic Blissett is in the role, despite effectively having one hand tied behind his back. It's not easy to make a housebound basket case seem commanding, but Blissett easily does so, abetted by excellent direction from Wilkinson and McCabe. The two have made sure that the transitions between scenes reinforce Ray's power, so Terry (played by Matthew Houghton) changes his clothes, removes and provides props, and generally does all the things one imagines he would do if Houghton and Blissett had the same relationship Terry and Ray have.

The reason it's so crucial for Ray to seem in charge is that when Terry gets his friend Karen (Janna Fox) to come over to the house, Ray immediately charms her, and it doesn't seem at all odd.

Part of this is that Terry seems like such a loser -- he's never at ease, and a question as innocuous as "What are you having to drink?" throws him off so badly that he takes several minutes to recover.

Houghton has fewer fun lines, but he holds his own next to Blissett, as does Fox. The latter does a nice job of covering over the play's real structural flaw: What is she doing in this apartment? She's cute and seems fun, and nervous Terry and scary Ray do not exactly seem like a pair of ladies' men. Mostly, Fox fixes this by seeming nice as well as upsettingly sexy.

The other real problem, though, is the play's ending -- it just feels anticlimactic, and not in a good way. It's also probably the only time one of these dangerous-shut-ins-turn-on-each-other plays has turned out happily for all involved, and while that's innovative, it rings false. The production is slick, but one wishes it was in service of more substance.

Set and costumes, Jess Wiesner; lighting, Jack Knowles; sound and original music, David Benke; production stage manager, Trisha Henson. Opened Nov. 8, 2009, reviewed Nov. 6. Running time: 2 HOUR, 5 MIN.