Claymont

Kevin Brofsky's Claymont is one hell of a plausible play, and it steps so quietly that it defies of the cliches of a much-traveled road. As directed by Derek Jamison, it even manages to make the most of necessarily comic devices (like Wynne Anders, who finds real heart in the human concern of Dolores) or to play enough against type that it can joke about Sharon Letts (Aimee Howard) seeming to come straight out of Valley of the Dolls. But, like the town in question, the play is unconscionably flat: talented as Jason Hare is -- playing the lead, Neil, as an excitable boy whose repressed sexuality makes him vibrate out of his own skin -- Claymont aches for something as conversation-starting as a pool of blood. Despite having high stakes, like rebellious Dallas's impending draft notice (the play is set in 1969), the play refuses to have a cow about any of it. Sweet's fine for Neil's climax in Act I, but everyone's just a little too easy-going (or lifeless) throughout for the play to leave a lasting impression.

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