Funny thing about addiction
We're all addicts, admits Don Cummings' cheerfully rude comedy, "A Good Smoke," now staged by the Production Company at Chandler Studio Theatre Center. Whether it's momma, nicotine or self-righteousness, there's no limping through life without a crutch.
That's bad news for do-gooder Dave (Henry Gummer), who flies in from California after his domineering, hypochondriac mother (Barbara Gruen) conveniently has a breakdown the same day her daughter, Susan (Madelynn Fattibene), gives birth. Dave prides himself on being way past the tactics of his bloodsucking family, but it's a crime scene, all right: Younger brother Joe (Blake Anthony) enables Mom's pill popping, while passive Dad (Dennis Delsing) tunes out with beer and football. Susan's newborn won't nurse, the crisis is shredding everyone's nerves, and Dave foolishly gave up smoking years ago.
It's tough to mine much that's new in the dysfunctional family genre, but Cummings has a feel for desperation, and he gives each of the play's women her own awful, nakedly human monologue. As the mother from hell, Gruen admirably holds her ground, refusing to give into sitcom cuteness or ask for our sympathy.
Cummings, who also directed, has trouble moving the cast around August Viverito's cramped set of appropriately exhausted furniture. You wish he'd cleared the whole thing out and done it black-box style. After all, what says home more than recriminations and a clean ashtray?
--Charlotte Stoudt
"A Good Smoke" The Chandler Studio Theatre Center, 12443 Chandler Blvd., North Hollywood. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Ends March 29. $22. (800) 838-3006. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.
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