THEATER REVIEWs : A Walk on Dark Side of Holidays

SAN DIEGO —  “I am a part of all that I have met,” Tennyson said in “Ulysses.” When those parts come back to haunt you as the ghosts of painful memories, well, you might as well be stretched out on that festive holiday table being carved up with the Thanksgiving turkey.

Craig Lucas’ “Missing Persons” pays homage to those sentiments in an emotionally complicated, funny and loaded production at the Fritz Theater in San Diego.

Addie (Sally S. Stockton), a literary critic and professor whose husband abandoned her 25 years ago, is struggling upon the return of her embattled son, Hat (Donn White), and his ex-wife, Joan (Natascha Nikolai), for Thanksgiving.

Also present are the title’s so-called “missing persons”--the absent father, Tucker (Charlie Riendeau), who keeps entering the room over and over to slap down a piece of poetry before leaving, and the young Hat (Nick Carin), who converses both with his mother and the man, Hat, he has become.

Sound complicated?

No, not when compared with such quirkily compelling Lucas plays as “Prelude to a Kiss,” in which the bodies of a young and beautiful bride and an old man who kisses her switch places. And it makes perfect emotional sense, particularly when Hat, in the midst of being courted by the widow next door (Fran Wargo-Marsh), is distracted by images of his wife literally popping through the woodwork asking over and over again for a divorce.

*

The show has gone through a sea change for the better since being critically panned in 1981. In that early production, Hat was an insect specialist; here, he’s a struggling poet like his father, and on the verge of repeating his father’s mistakes. His younger self, who originally played chess in silence, is an active participant here, connecting, beseeching and challenging his parents and his older self.

Under Jack Banning’s direction, the show strikes an oddly right balance between the quirky dysfunctionality of the recent film hit “Home for the Holidays” and the dark anger of Ibsen’s “Ghosts.” The actors, particularly Stockton’s acerbic Addie and Nikolai’s confused but compassionate Joan, are genuinely affecting.

The character of Hat still needs work to make him more sympathetic--it’s hard to share the playwright’s feelings for a parasitic, largely unpublished poet who feels so sorry for himself, especially when the focal points of so much of his fury are his wife and mother, the women who support him financially and emotionally.

Also problematic is the widow Gemma. Despite a vivacious and vulnerable reading by Wargo-Marsh, it’s not clear from the writing just who she is. Is she genuinely enamored of Hat--and if so, why?--or is she just an uninhibited and lascivious drunk?

Still, the whole satisfies, as does the overall look of the show. The economics of the Fritz usually dictates bare sets. But Terry Price’s realistic design, with its attention to detail, smartly suggests an upstairs, a living room, a workplace, a kitchen and the world outside.

Mary-Denise’s costumes cleverly make the point of how old these memories are, by contrasting the ‘90s clothes with the ‘60s tie-dye and bell-bottom look of Tucker and young Hat. Michael Hemmingson’s sound, too, keeps the show in the ‘60s, where its memories and heart are.

Some may find the spirit of “Missing Persons” a bit subversive in these feel-good holiday times when everyone is supposed to walk around with smiles taped to their faces like decorations on the door.

Lucas’ subversiveness is one that can heal, particularly for those who desperately need a bracing reminder that not even the lonely are truly alone.

* “Missing Persons,” Fritz Theater, 420 3rd Ave., San Diego. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Dec. 23. $10-$15. (619) 233-7505. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Sally S. Stockton: Addie

Fran Wargo-Marsh: Gemma

Donn White: Hat

Natascha Nikolai: Joan

Will Beinbrink: Steve

Charlie Riendeau: Tucker

Nick Carin: Young Boy

A Fritz Theater production of a play by Craig Lucas, directed by Jack Banning. Set: Terry Price. Costumes: Mary-Denise. Lights: Ginger Harris. Sound: Michael Hemmingson. Properties: Pat Bonin: Stage manager: Christopher Wylie.