Moral Imperative

We've all wanted someone dead at one point or another. We've even justified how the world would be better without that soul polluting the population. Would you go back and kill Hitler, for example, considering the devastation he did to the world? Well, most of us stick to daydreaming about such plots. Seth (Martin Thompson), the smarmy, pretentious dean of tony Briarton University, is not most of us.

In Samuel Warren Joseph's world premiere play "Moral Imperative," Seth not only convinces himself but also his friend and acolyte Robert (Ken Kamlet) that Oscar (David Hunt Stafford) -- the novelist who was tapped to be president of the college over Seth -- is such a blight (he's planning to do away with tenure, for one thing) that they must do away with him.

Left in the dark are Seth's wife, Karen (Susan Damante), a doctor and part-time professor herself, and Robert's wife, Karen (Kyoko Okazaki), a kindergarten teacher who isn't the intellectual equal of the others. As the men's plot begins to take form, secrets are revealed, relationships are tested, and guilt, resentment, envy and entitlement destroy lives.

Thompson's Seth is persuasively manipulative, a compelling character played by a compelling actor. Despite being smug and condescending, wielding his intellect like a rapier, he makes a strong and captivating philosophical case for metaphorically taking out the trash. Despite, or because of, his intellect, and aside from Robert and his wife, Seth has a difficult time with personal relationships, and it's no surprise.

He's estranged from both his son and his daughter, and he can't resist talking down to everyone, with his condescension especially pointed when directed toward Karen. (As someone who knows everything, Seth can't understand how Karen has found comfort in Jesus after her car accident that killed her baby.) It would be more gripping watching them parry if Karen weren't such a simp.

She's far too earnest about everything, speaking every line with wide eyes and an almost puppy-dog need for approval. It's fine if she's not as worldly or intelligent as some of her peers, but she shouldn't be such a doormat that you wonder why Robert would be with her in the first place.

Despite there being only six characters, the play would be more powerful -- and certainly tighter -- if Karen and Detective Pauline (Brandee Steger), who comes in to turn the screws, creating paranoia and suspicion, had been excised. Karen adds nothing, and Detective Pauline, as portrayed by Steger, is as though she came in from another play entirely.

Taking place wholly in the drawing room of Seth and Mary's stately New England manse (a beautiful set that makes fantastic use of the space), she comes into their upper-crust world with an over-the-top, almost comedic energy that throws off the tense, terse energy of the other characters. Mary could have easily picked up the trail of breadcrumbs and started putting things together. Damante, an excellent actor, plays Mary as strong, sexy and smart, giving her depth and dimension and making her a perfect mate for Seth.

Director Howard Storm gets good performances out of his three leads (Seth, Mary, and Robert) but the script is so talky that -- even though the battle of wits about philosophy, religion and intellectualism is interesting -- it becomes mired in its self-satisfaction.

"Moral Imperative" runs through Oct. 17 at Theatre 40 in the Reuben Cordova Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212. For information or tickets, call 310-364-0535 or visit Theatre40.org.