At the Actors Theatre of San Francisco, John Patrick Shanley's viper-tongued, dramatic indictment of Hollywood, Four Dogs And A Bone, receives an expert mounting from director Louis Parnell. This cautionary tale about the stratagems and mayhem of making feature films shows serious artistes from the East trying to make it in L.A. Not only has the producer gone over budget, he's under-insured the production. Curvaceous Brenda puts the moves on him to increase her part, while aging, libidinous Colette puts the moves on the writer. A full-fledged bitch fight occurs in the gals' trailer, and never have two women gone at each other in such unmitigatedly catty ways!
Although the final scene brings all four characters together, the piece ends abruptly, and the whole play feels as if it were written in haste. Along the way, though, are riotously funny lines and character bits, while Shanley's nasty, city of fallen angels is as evil as David Rabe's in Hurlyburly.
Paget Brewster is a shapely, seductive Brenda who works over macho, business-obsessed Bradley (Tony Abou-Ganim), even though she's promised to the writer (a somewhat tepid Frank Potter). Kimberly Richards' over-the-top, Sweet Bird Of Youth-style Colette is a stunner, building upon the actress' physical and behavioral similarity to Thelma Ritter.
Four Dogs and a Bone goes a bit far with "dead mother" jokes and rectal fistula jokes (bloody anal dressings in waste cans), but this sensationalism and vulgarity go hand-in-hand with the world presented. Jeff Wincek's set is classy, Rachel Klyce's lighting topnotch.
