THEATER : ART Gets to the Root of ‘Skin of Our Teeth’ : This Production Understands Wilder’s Flawed Classic and Adds Its Own Wit to Gnaw On

The pocket-size production of “The Skin of Our Teeth,” which opened over the weekend at the Alternative Repertory Theatre, manages to pack so much wit into its inspired design that you can’t help feeling Thornton Wilder himself would have approved.

The combination of visual puns and aural antics that Gary Christensen has manufactured--aided in no small degree by Maria Wortham’s apt costumes--almost compensates for a certain monotony of style that creeps over the intentionally parodistic acting in a few too many places.

Not that Christensen’s larkish whimsy or Wortham’s cleverness are the only things to recommend this cartoon-like revival of Wilder’s 1942 comedy about mankind’s indomitable will to survive all sorts of cataclysms. Nor that the arch spoofery of the cast, as directed by Patricia L. Terry, is inappropriate to Wilder’s wisecracking sendup of human foibles. But it is the ingenious technical design--surmounting the cozy limitations of ART’s storefront theater--that provides the most entertaining moments in this ambitious production and illustrates the allegorical motifs of the play as well or better than some of the actors.

The wiggy, blue-faced clock with its crooked hands winding the centuries backward and forward to the accompaniment of an old-time TV theme song animates the presentation like a relished cameo performer--with a lot more charm than, say, the unfortunately cast Fortune Teller whose doom-telling theatrics fall dismally flat. Similarly, the picture symbols of catastrophe that wing in on a wire from above have the effect of quippy punch lines delivered by well-trained bit players with exquisite timing.

Besides those, you could name a dozen other examples of imaginative theatrical invention--from the orange numeral “11” serving as a backdrop (which I took to mean the eleventh hour of civilization) and the overarching tree (of knowledge, I presumed) to the intermittent rumbling of an Ice Age glacier and a saw-toothed dinosaur mask that can actually be called endearing.

The costume details alone supply a rich trove of ironic visual puns: George Antrobus’ red fez with buffalo horns and his wife Maggie’s white pillbox hat are perfect commentaries on their roles at the 600,000th annual convention of the Ancient Order of Mammals; their saucy maid Sabina’s get-up in black corset, gold jumpsuit and leather pilot’s cap is emblematic of her vacillating identity between sex object and adventurous feminist.

But a play that requires as much self-referential parody as “The Skin of Our Teeth” risks becoming an extended, one-note joke unless the performance style can provide variable dynamics. And this the cast in general does not do.

In the first act, for instance, Mrs. Antrobus (Sally Leonard) and Sabina (Amy Larson) are virtually indistinguishable in tone at times, despite the obvious differences in the roles. Mrs. Antrobus is the Earth Mother, a protector of kith and kin; Sabina is the temptress, sultry as well as cynical. But, except for Larson’s Southern accent (a cliche at that), both are played with the same body language.

As Mr. Antrobus, John Huntington does yeoman’s duty with a stentorian, bug-eyed performance that might as well be played in an outdoor amphitheater. R. David Chambers is pretty much a cipher as Henry, the Antrobuses’ son. Ellen Treanor, who rounds out the cast of principles as Henry’s sister, Gladys, is a likable caricature with her blond pigtails and her all-day sucker of a lollipop.

Leonard loosens up considerably in the second act and starts to delineate her role with more beguiling individuality. Larson, too, eventually breaks the rigid mold of her gestures. But by then the script itself has begun to wear out its welcome. In fact, critical praise for “The Skin of Our Teeth” ever since its original Broadway production in 1942 has always taken note that the second and third acts are something of a letdown.

There is no question, however, that the ART troupe understands this flawed classic to the last detail. Particular evidence of that is its successful transformation of the satirical newsreel sequences, which are supposed to be overdubbed film projections, into neat stand-ups by the dual narrators Patrick Brien and Tracy Merrifield. She is especially good, moreover, at capturing the aura of the 1940s.

‘THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH’

An Alternate Repertory Theatre production of a play by Thornton Wilder. Directed by Patricia L. Terry. Produced by Kathleen A. Bryson. With John Huntington, Sally Leonard, Amy Larson, Ellen Treanor, R. David Chambers, Patrick Brien, Tracy Merrifield and Bonnie Brien. Scenic, sound and makeup design by Gary Christensen. Costume design by Maria Wortham. Lighting design by David C. Palmer. Assistant director Joel T. Cotter. Performances through June 15 at 1636 S. Grand Ave., Santa Ana. Thursdays to Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 7 p.m. Tickets: $10 and $12.50. Information: (714) 836-7929.