THEATER REVIEW ‘THE COCKTAIL HOUR’ : Whine and Dine : Audiences may feel kinship with ‘The Cocktail Hour,’ A. R. Gurney’s self-indulgent saga of family foibles.

It’s near dinner time in an upscale, Upstate New York household, and all’s atwitter.

Two of the family’s three children, both well into adulthood, have returned for the evening with startling announcements. Nina wants to give up the security of her job and move to Ohio and learn to work with dogs. John, the eldest son, has written a play and wants his father’s permission to produce it.

Neither plan sits well with the folks. Why trade security for such a frivolous pursuit, father Bradley asks Nina. And he’s suspicious of John’s work: So bereft of imagination is the son that his plays are all autobiographical. Moreover, they consistently portray the family in a less than glowing light.

Thus the stage is set for “The Cocktail Hour,” A. R. Gurney’s 1988 off-Broadway success, in current production by the Santa Paula Theater Center.

The next couple of hours find the four characters squabbling, making up, and--after all these years!--discovering new things about one another.

A basic requirement in such a drama is that the audience cares about the characters. Author Gurney obviously does. Who could care about the mind of a fictional playwright more than the living playwright who created him? One might suspect that this play has more than a bit of personal history in it; the author’s earlier slices of life included “Scenes From an American Life,” “What I Did Last Summer,” and “The Dining Room.” And, one of Gurney’s little jokes is to have fictional playwright John title his own new work . . . “The Cocktail Hour.”

Another running gag is concern that the title, which Bradley hates, might be confused with T. S. Eliot’s “The Cocktail Party.”

A possible problem for audiences, even those who feel kinship with families that include a playwright or an aspiring dog trainer, is that both John and Bradley are self-righteously dogmatic in their own way. By the time one of them loosens up, it may be too late to care.

On the other hand, members of an audience might find that the family situations have some universal appeal, the dialogue occasionally crackles and a couple of surprising plot developments might be worth the wait.

The female characters are both better-drawn and more sympathetic than the guys. Mother Ann is a cheerful family fixer-upper straight out of a ‘50s situation comedy. Salty Nina is, in sharp contrast to her parents, distressed that she isn’t featured more prominently in her brother’s play.

“The Cocktail Hour” does provide a showcase for its four principals. A drama coach in real life, Wes Deitrick chomps at the scenery as self-absorbed John. The other three are more restrained: Pete Trama as Bradley, Rosemary DeLeonardis as Ann and Patricia Lynn a particularly appealing Nina.

Director David Ralphe might be best known to area audiences for helming the theater center’s productions of “Let’s Get a Divorce” and “The Spider’s Web,” both of which included Deitrick in their casts. Trama and Lynn have appeared in several Santa Paula shows; he’s also been featured on the TV soap “The Bold and the Beautiful.” DeLeonardis has previously appeared in a number of Conejo Players productions.

Frances Erwin’s costumes, Julia Breeding’s set and Lawrence Oberman’s lighting are worthy. Bob Andrews’ taped piano renditions of pop standards played before the show and during intermission are worth early arrival.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“The Cocktail Hour” continues through Nov. 24 at the Santa Paula Theater Center, 125 S. 7th St. Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday nights and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $12.50 on Friday and Saturday; $11.50 on Thursday and Sunday. Group rates are available. For reservations or further information call (805) 525-4645.