Theater Review -- Tom Titus

Not since “The Grapes of Wrath,” which Orange Coast College presented

several years ago, has a locally produced playwright managed to get down

and dirty with the working class the way Israel Horovitz does with “North

Shore Fish,” OCC’s latest production in its Orange County premiere.

Horovitz focuses on the harsh life that the assembly line of a

Gloucester, Mass. fish-processing plant offers its sparsely educated

workers, many of whom are second- and third-generation fish packers. They

may not have it all together upstairs, but downstairs they’re fully

developed -- and sexual tension runs rampant.

“Working under the foreman” takes on a whole new meaning in this

blue-collar saga, and the company’s shop leader has taken full advantage

of his supervisory position over a contingent of mostly female employees.

The fish business may be floundering, but the boss is flourishing.

Director John Ferzacca -- who has a talent for finding provocative,

unfamiliar material for OCC audiences -- takes a potentially sprawling,

complicated play and downsizes it to a more approachable dimension. Set

designer David Scaglione has created one of his more realistic backdrops,

a minutely detailed fish-packing plant that features, among other

elements, a practical band saw.

Greg McClure is excellent as the two-timing foreman who’s trying his

best to save the company on one hand and satisfy his erotic appetites on

the other. His character turns from charming to dictatorial and back in a

heartbeat, and McClure has captured both his surface veneer and inner

torment skillfully.

The centerpiece among the working stiffs is Maria Hall-Brown’s highly

strung Florence, who’s catering to the boss in the upstairs office in

full view of her fellow fish packers, but who creates a scathingly

adversarial relationship downstairs. Her torment is first illustrated and

then, much later, explained, a playwright’s gambit that could be risky in

less-capable hands. It’s a sensitive and poignant interpretation that

also features some sparkling dramatic fireworks.

Another riveting performance is delivered by Sean Hesketh as Porker,

the saw operator and general flunky whose combination of ignorance and

naivete eventually boils over into outrage. Hesketh conveys his

character’s mild retardation delicately and believably, earning audience

sympathy in the process.

Jeannie Morem enriches her role as a puritanical mother figure to the

others, especially daughter Emily Rued, who’s “10 months pregnant.”

Isabella Melo is fine as the chunky, love-starved Josephine, Nancy Troia

challenges Hesketh’s character for pure dimness and Jessica Rubinstein

sparkles as a saucy newcomer to the plant.

Upsetting the familial atmosphere is the arrival of a state inspector

whose cool, businesslike demeanor poses an instant threat to the plant’s

survival. Jessica Hutchinson excels in this character -- particularly

after it becomes evident that she’s not that far removed from the workers

-- and her New England accent is thicker than any of theirs.

Accents vary in the OCC production, with Hutchinson and Hall-Brown

demonstrating the greatest fidelity with the regional speech pattern.

More important than accent is attitude, and the OCC actors have this

element down pat.

“North Shore Fish” gives a well-chosen cast the opportunity to flex

its dramatic muscles, with director Ferzacca and set designer Scaglione

further deepening the sense of realism. The catch of the day is a tasty

one at OCC.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Thursdays and Saturdays.

FYI

* What: “North Shore Fish”

* Where: Orange Coast College Drama Lab Theater, 2501 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa

* When: Closing performances 8 p.m. tonight through Saturday, 2 p.m.

Sunday

* Cost: $8-$10

* Call: (714) 432-5880