by Joel Elkins

“Fubar,” one of the characters in the play explains, is an expression dating from the Vietnam War meaning “f**ked up beyond all recognition.” The fact that the playwright chose that as the title for the play gives the audience the immediate impression that something about the lives of the characters is not quite right.

And clearly something is not quite right between David and Mary, a couple experiencing marital difficulties as they move into the home of Mary’s mother shortly after she had inexplicably committed suicide. Upon moving in, they find the house filled to the rafters with mountains of boxes, perhaps her attempt to compartmentalize her simultaneously “interesting, incredible, amazing, fantastic” (by the way, the alternate title to the play) and Fubar life. Mary is hesitant to sort through the meticulously (and sometimes cryptically) labeled boxes for fear of what she might find. It wouldn’t be a huge stretch to say that the boxes represent the characters’ own emotional baggage.

David and Mary’s inhibition and growing estrangement is counterbalanced by the emotional and sexual freedom exhibited by their friends Richard and Silvia, who seem to have everything that they don’t, although it often requires outside assistance –– be it virtual or medicinal –– to achieve. David and Mary’s separate searches to fill the voids in their lives draw them further apart.

FUBAR’s manifold themes virtually jump off the stage in staccato cadence: drugs, happiness, suicide, domestic violence, infidelity, PTSD. It’s almost too much material, for the play or for the audience. But perhaps life can’t always be compartmentalized in labeled boxes.

Ron Morehouse gives a strong performance as David trying desperately to love his wife and “say the right things” but deep down recognizing the futility. Alice Dodd’s performance as his wife seems wooden, and there is virtually no chemistry between them, although it’s difficult to say whether either of these is intentional.

David Wilcox is wonderful as Richard, David’s friend and “reality pusher.” And Amanda Street fills the stage with energy as Silvia, his impetuous and free-spirited wife.

FUBAR was directed by Larissa Kokernot and written by Karl Gajdusek, a local playwright who also took the photographs which periodically adorn the set. Gary Smoot’s set design exhibits some interesting choices (a doorway that almost nobody uses) and subtly blends multimedia into the production. The lighting by Michael Mahlum reflects the changing moods of the play and adds to the ambience.

FUBAR is performed Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 7 pm through May 30th, 2009.

Theatre of NOTE is located at 1517 N. Cahuenga, in Hollywood, just north of Sunset.

Ticket prices: $22.00 (Seniors, Students: $18.00)

Reservations online at www.theatreofnote.com or by phone at (323) 856-8611