Diversionary's 'Bright Room' one of theater's best

By: RANDY DOTINGA - For the North County Times | Wednesday, November 23, 2005 7:24 AM PST ∞

You really couldn't ask for a nicer bunch of historical footnotes.

There's the would-be Communist actress who converts Adolf Hitler into puppetry. An anarchist who says his mascara runs when he's interrogated. A volatile one-eyed Trotskyite, a gloriously histrionic actress and a mannish female artist with a tongue that could cut wire.

These members of the Berlin intelligentsia party together, mock the Nazis together, and then watch ---- first in denial, then in horror ---- as the Fuhrer rises to power in Germany. In Diversionary Theatre's excellent production of "A Bright Room Called Day," an early work by acclaimed playwright Tony Kushner, these members of the German intelligentsia serve as symbols of the left's failure to stop fascism.

Don't get too hung up on those last few words, which suggest a Very Important Play that's bound to send audiences into naptime. While it pushes its message too hard at times, "Bright Room" is entertaining, educational and thought-provoking in the best sense.

Somehow, the ever-witty Kushner manages to bring life to the now-obscure politics of prewar democratic Germany and make them relevant many decades later. The question is essentially this: What did the German left know, when did it know it, and what didn't it do about it?

This is difficult material, full of political debates, soliloquies and Kushner's trademark digressions into impenetrable symbolism. But the cast members who play the major roles ---- Robin Christ, Daren Scott, Lauren Zimmerman, Ron Choularton and Jessica John ---- are more than up to the challenge of bringing life to their characters.

It's hard to pinpoint the best performances of the bunch, but Scott (the fey anarchist) and John (the overdramatic actress) are certainly the most fun to watch.

Helping matters along, director Brendon Fox wisely lets the actors use their natural voices so the audience doesn't have to suffer through faux European accents. Nearly everything else ---- the enticing set, the vivid costumes, the historically accurate jazz music ---- is top-notch.

This wouldn't be a Kushner play without an excursion or two into the supernatural, and there's plenty of weird goings-on, including a surprise appearance by a notable figure of history (played by Richard Baird).

Baird (who heads the San Diego Shakespearean troupe Poor Players and who will soon become a member of the Ashland Shakespeare Festival company in Oregon) does what he does best: He steals his scene. His performance is delicious, and all the more so because his fellow actors give him room to roar.

Unfortunately, there's more to "Bright Room." Back when the play first opened during the Reagan administration, a leftist college student character linked 1930s fascism to 1980s Republicanism. In this incarnation, Kushner himself worked with Diversionary Theatre to update the character's speeches so she bashes the second Bush administration instead.

Critics complained that the college student was heavy-handed two decades ago, and her fascists-are-among-us shtick is still a pain in the ear today.

Ultimately, the sharp and effective "Bright Room" sheds the most light when it lets audiences think for themselves.

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