ar East," by A. R. Gurney, is an agreeable, rather mild play that has some humor and some human insight, but is rather shy in the drama department. The TheatreWorks production at the Lucie Stern Theatre is also agreeable.
At an American naval base in Japan in 1954, young Lieutenant "Sparky" Watts has a way of putting every foot wrong. Attempting to ingratiate himself with his commanding officer, Captain Anderson, he gives the impression of being a spoiled young college boy and a goldbrick. One offense is that he forgot to attend the previous night's Fourth of July party, which was organized by the captain's wife. What's worse is that he forgot because he was out with his Japanese girlfriend.
This begins to look like "Syonara" or one of those other 1950s movies about interracial love in the Far East. And a predictable complication arises when Sparky calls upon the captain's wife, Julia, to apologize, and she is attracted to him. (That movie was "Tea and Sympathy.")
Things meander along in this vein, and it begins to look as if there will be no reason to come back for Act II, except for some variation of the love scene on the beach in "From Here To Eternity." But just at the end of Act I, a tantalizing little bomb goes off: Sparky's buddy, Bob, reveals that he's given away a top-secret document to avoid being blackmailed by his Japanese boyfriend.
Homosexuality in the military would have been dynamite in 1954, but it seems old hat by now. And unfortunately, all that comes of it in Act II is Bob's confession and eventual discharge -- bargained down from dishonorable to general because he turned himself in and because the Navy wants to hide the fact that they found a cuckoo in the nest.
The rest of the story is about Julia, an Ivy League college chum of Sparky's aunt, stirring up trouble with his family so they'll pressure him to break up with his sweetheart. And there is the expected scene of Sparky and Julia finally falling into each other's arms, though not into bed.
Some points are made along the way about the captain's despair for his only son, who was shot down in Korea, and about America's shifting of resources to Vietnam. But these ominous allusions to the next decade's war there, like the faint thunder of a distant but approaching storm, are history by hindsight, and seem feeble.
Indeed, this whole play, though it apparently is Gurney's latest, feels like apprentice work, most conspicuously because it consists entirely of what are called "two scenes" -- only two characters engaged onstage at a time -- and because the various narrative threads are never worked up into real, shouting melodrama. The kettle may get warm, but it never comes to a boil.
The production has its virtues. Director Jules Aaron moves his actors smoothly, and the tempo, though moderato, never flags.
Julie Eccles, always elegant and beautiful, looks exactly right as a 1950s wife who would like to look like Grace Kelly. And she strongly conveys the frustrated anger and longing that are contained behind the icy social smile of a lonely woman's empty marriage.
Michael Keys Hall is handsome and solid as the captain, and he manages to give some nuance to a role that doesn't invite much.
As Sparky, Darren Bridgett is easygoing and likable, but short on intensity. About the same can be said for Brian Gillespie as Bob. Carie Yonekawa does well as The Reader, speaking several small roles in a variety of voices.
There are skillful lighting from Steven B. Maannshardt and attractive, economical -- in both senses -- settings from Mikiko Uesugi.
The audience enjoyed this play, and there was solid applause at the end. I enjoyed it, too, in a temperate way, but I left the theater feeling hungry for more.
"Far East," by A. R. Gurney, is being presented by TheatreWorks at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto through April 8. For information, call 903-6000 or visit www.theatreworks.org.
