Studies in Appearance and Reality at ‘Night School’

The attractive young Sally (Jill Suzette Lanza) claims she’s a teacher by day and is learn-ing foreign languages in “Night School,” in Harold Pinter’s slender drama of that name at the Lost Studio.

She’s not the type of girl Walter (Dan Cowan) usually meets in London. But his aunts, Annie and Millie (Shawna Casey and Beth Ann Styne, respectively), have rented his room to her, and Walter, a petty thief and forger, is out of the slammer earlier than expected. So Walter must sleep on the couch. He’s both angry and intrigued by Sally, particularly when he finds a certain photo.

All the acting is top-notch--from the easy familiarity of Casey’s and Styne’s co-dependent maiden aunts to Cowan’s self-involved, slightly dense Walter to Lanza’s sensually confident, worldly Sally, to the bluster of Jeff Murray as the unwitting catalyst for the ending.

Director Cinda Jackson draws a direct comparison with another Sally when she has taxi dancers sing a tepid rendition of “Don’t Tell Mama” from the musical “Cabaret.” Because of this addition, Sally’s sudden flight is less puzzling than in the original script.

This isn’t one of Pinter’s better pieces. The conflict is negligible. Even in 1960, when this play was first produced for radio, a schoolteacher moonlighting as a nightclub hostess wasn’t exactly high scandal. Jackson overcomes the problems by creating an enigmatic air and positing that perhaps Walter isn’t as dim as he seems.

* “Night School,” Lost Studio, 130 S. La Brea Ave., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Dec. 16. $15. (323) 933-6944. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.