Stage Capsule Reviews

 Burn This Playing one of the most incendiary, original characters in modern drama, Pale in Lanford Wilson's 1987 oddball romance drama, Bernardo Cubria sets Silver House Theatre's small stage afire. Let's hope Unhinged Productions carries insurance. Cubria lights up the place and the overwrought script with a blazing characterization that borders on the sublime. There's so much life in Pale, such volatile conflict and raw emotion, that he immediately fascinates and mesmerizes, not that we'd ever want to meet him when drunk or after a few lines of blow. He sucks all the air out of the room and leaves you breathless -- and charred. He also frightens Anna (Jennifer Farley), who's in mourning for her dead gay roommate, Pale's younger brother, as well as in mourning for her inability to have a life. These two, of course, are destined for each other, even though Anna repeats her mantra, "I don't want this," while edging closer to Pale. Two others are entwined in Wilson's heated but circuitous pas de quatre: Anna's rich, spoiled boyfriend Burton (Mat Boudreaux) and her bitchy other roommate, gay Larry (Christopher C. Conway). All four are clueless in regards to making satisfactory connections, and the more they try, the deeper they are mired in grief and loss, which is mandatory Wilson territory (Hot L Baltimore, Fifth of July, Talley's Folly). But no matter how life keeps these sad, desperate people adrift without a harbor, far out on the horizon gleams a small beacon called hope. It may be elusive; it may also be a mirage; but for Anna and Pale, it's a lifeline. And for us, there's always Cubria, who burns as bright as any acetylene torch. Through March 10. 1107 Chartres Street, 713-547-0126.

The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) Take Shakespeare's entire oeuvre, add great quantities of British pantomime -- outlandish drag, boob humor and silly slapstick -- gloss it with lowbrow Benny Hill and the higher absurdity and wit of Monty Python, add healthy doses of uppers and caffeine, and then just sit back and laugh yourself stupid. This sidesplitting reduction of Shakespeare, fully entertaining via a trio of madcap guys at Texas Repertory Theatre Co. (the original played for ten years in London), not just takes down the Bard, but first spins him overhead before bouncing him off the ropes and head-butting him to the ground. While dissing the Great One, this zany whirl respects him, too, if only subliminally. So, for example, all the histories are played as a spirited football game with the English crown being tossed down field; the comedies are encapsulated in the whacked-out, ridiculously plotted "The Love Boat Goes to Verona"; the tragedy of Othello is animated with uptown rap; and the surreal, gory Titus Andronicus is parodied as a TV cooking show. The second act is devoted to Hamlet, and if their initial telling is not funny enough, which it most surely is, then you get to see the boys perform it faster, then fastest, then backwards. Even a passing knowledge of the plays will not deter your admiring laughter. The ultra-talented trio boasts Craig A. Miller, Steven Fenley and Ryan Schabach, who stop at nothing to get a laugh, for which we thank them heartily. Through March 3. 14243 Stuebner Airline, 281-583-7573.

Fools Neil Simon's comic fable was a big fat flop when it appeared on Broadway in 1981 and ran for 40 performances. Although apparently written in his sleep and savaged by critics, this tissue-paper-thin little comedy has plenty of Borscht Belt charm and Catskills know-how in its incessant one-liners, easy-on-the-brain story and characters whose main purpose is to be stupid. What's easier for the master of comedy than put-downs? Leon (Kevin Dean) is the new head schoolmaster in the remote Ukrainian village of Kulyenchikov. Eager and earnest about his job, he has stumbled into a place that's been cursed with stupidity for 200 years. The shepherd (Cliff House) constantly loses his sheep; the butcher (Ric Hodgin) sweeps dirt into his house; the doctor (Orlando Arriaga) offers up any prescription because "some people like prescriptions"; the postman (Chip Simmons) can never find the right address. Leon discovers he has 24 hours to lift the curse -- which entails the lovely but dumb-as-a-stump doctor's daughter Sophia (Jessica Lewis), with whom he's fallen hopelessly in love, and the pompous Count (Jeffrey McMorrough), who proposes to Sophia twice a day. Pitfalls and verbal pratfalls hound Leon in his quest to educate the girl, but this being simple Simon, the outcome's never in doubt; nor could it be, or this fragile comedy would blow away. A.D. Players, under Marion Arthur Kirby's snappy direction, plays this vaudeville as if it were vintage Sid Caesar, which adds a sprightly and soothing naturalness to the time-worn routines. If exchanges like the following set you aglow, you'll find Simon's merry Russian village much to your liking -- Sophia: "Would you like to kiss me?" Leon: "With all of my heart." Sophia: "No, I mean with your lips." Through March 18. Grace Theater, 2710 W. Alabama, 713-526-2721.