Pabst or Prozac?

[img1]The discovery of vices defines the college experience almost as much as learning.

Being a student, Ryan Jones understands this. And that's why he chose to direct Terrence McNally's Bad Habits, a play that centers on excess.

"It discusses themes of hedonism, bad habits and finding out what makes you happy," said the junior drama major, director of two previous plays at the UW.

But that's not the full story. Bad Habits is actually two plays, each depicting extreme approaches to restoring love and stability to our lives.

The first act, Ravenswood, suggests selfish hedonism is the best, albeit flawed, way to loosen the crusted resentment in marriages.

Jake Farley plays spa-impresario Dr. Pepper, who gleefully observes the tizzied couples in his care who bitch and fight like schoolchildren. Farley portrays the wheelchair-bound therapist with the same recline-and-dryly-comment manner of an Oscar Wilde character.

Pepper's treatment -- drink, smoke, screw (around) and eat high-cholesterol foods -- works for at least one couple, the Scupps, played by Ben Elterman and Mikaela Hicks. Ravenswood, unfortunately, falls victim to McNally's script. Bickering gay couples and self-absorbed celebrities are cliched, and perhaps the actors were a little bored with their parts. Lines crafted to deliver laughs often pass unnoticed in performances that should be punchier and more precise.

Dunelawn, the second act, is the Bizarro-Ravenswood. The spa becomes an asylum; tranquilizer injections displace highballs; and the wry Pepper is replaced by the white lab-coat-wearing Dr. Toynbee (nice work by Derek Lettman), who straightens out resistant patients with an icy stare and aphorisms spoken in gibberish.

The actors inexplicably shine in the more challenging environment, mostly the two nurses, Ruth Benson (Jenn Estes) and Becky Hedges (Hicks), whose strivings toward sterile perfection are as poignant as they are disturbing.

It's hard to know how much comedy per square inch McNally intended for the institutional setting, but it's the funniest act, thanks to Farley's Bruno, the slovenly, sleazy groundskeeper.

Bruno makes a nuisance of himself by ogling the two horrified nurses, particularly Becky Hedges, the butt of his double entendre, "mow and trim some hedges." Farley channels the spirit of the late comedian of the same name, along with other hams who have pioneered gross-out sexuality. Look out, Mike Meyers.

Using two very different settings, McNally proposes opposite solutions to alienation. In the first: do what you feel, let it all hang out. The second: suppress the desires that lead to destructiveness. To put it in a contemporary context, it's security versus freedom. McNally isn't naive enough to present either as foolproof, but clearly he favors the hedonistic approach, which results in a sufficiently happy ending.

Bad Habits is more than a carnival of vices. It's about finding balance in our relationships to our lovers, our society and ourselves. Do we indulge or suppress? Is it going to be Prozac or Pabst? And with what consequences?

Bad Habits runs through April 30 at the Cabaret Thewater in Hutchinson Hall. Reach Intermission reporter Jason McBride at [url='mailto:jasonmcbride@thedaily.washington.edu']jasonmcbride@thedaily.washington.edu[/url].