'Odd Couple' gets intimate

Oscar and Felix are at it again at the LB Playhouse

The "Odd Couple" is a quirky tale of an untidy, divorced man taking in his chronically neat, best friend, who is just getting a divorce himself at the beginning of the play. What follows is a trial of wills between the two men, and as their tempers heat up, the war of frustration escalates to abnormal heights.

If natural selection still functioned in this age of artificial survival, both Oscar Madison (Michael Ross) and Felix Ungar (Jack Thomas) wouldn't exist today. They would have been bred out of existence by the rest of the fed-up world.

But neat freaks and slobs still exist, and everyone should hope to have one of Simon's characters among their circle of friends.

Both actors play their abusive, hyperactive, psychologically extreme roles with obvious enthusiasm and in- your-face attitude, which is so believable and realistic that only the slapstick humor saves the play from being repulsive.

The play opens, beginning and ending with a loud, obnoxious poker game that has a tendency to split the action on the stage between characters and groups. If, for instance, an argument is raging around the poker table and Oscar Madison is lounging on the couch on the opposite end of the stage, pay attention to both the dialogue at one end, and Madison's facial expressions at the other.

The stage is uniquely laid out. Surrounded on three sides by the audience, the imaginary fourth wall is split into three units. This arrangement allows quite a few characters their own little domains on the stage without crowding each other.

The line between stage and audience is so slim, if someone in the front row stretched their legs, there is a distinct possibility of tripping one of the actors.

The front row is not for the squeamish. Stage-goers brave enough to purchase those seats should wear machine- washable clothes, as potato chips and pickles burst through the fourth wall and into the laps of audience members.

The actors played their roles so well, those closest to the stage actually shrank back from the mad displays of loud dialogue.

This humor of the unexpected works especially well on the stage, giving the audience a sense of immediacy not found on the big screen.

Ross plays Madison with spittle-flying zeal and a maniacal passion that contrasts with Thomas' treatment of Ungar, who rarely shows his emotion violently, preferring to mope instead.

Whether you're a slob, a neat-freak or someone stuck in between, this play teaches a lot about living with an opposite personality.

"The Odd Couple" opened Sept. 30 and runs through Nov. 5. Tickets are $10.

If You Go:

What: "The Odd Couple" by Neil Simon, directed by Terry Barto

When: Runs through November 5; Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.

Where: Long Beach Play House, 5021 East Anaheim St., Long Beach

How much: Tickets regularly $10