'Nephew': An Argument Where Nobody Wins

A small chess set rests on a table in the moments before the beginning of Spooky Action Theater's "Rameau's Nephew," and one might well view this item of scenery as a hopeful omen.

After all, "Rameau's Nephew" is a dialogue-of-ideas by the 18th-century philosopher Denis Diderot, a key figure of the French Enlightenment and the editor-in-chief of the seminal Encyclopedie. His riff on society, morality and art has been adapted for the modern stage by Shelly Berc and Andrei Belgrader, using relatively contemporary language, but you'd still expect the concepts to unfold with the elegance of a chess game devised by a grandmaster.

Unfortunately, self-indulgent acting and directing pretty much place the production in checkmate from the start. Unpublished in Diderot's lifetime (the Belgrader/Berc adaptation was performed in New York in 1988), "Rameau's Nephew" depicts two men locked in a frank and humorous -- and occasionally slightly risque -- intellectual debate.

One of these individuals, the Philosopher (Joseph Cronin), represents an idealistic worldview, endorsing values such as virtue, talent, patriotism, generosity and so on. By contrast, his eccentric acquaintance Rameau (Joseph Perna) -- nephew of the French baroque composer Jean Philippe Rameau, the play tells us -- declines to kowtow to such niceties. Instead, he celebrates the notion that greed, sensuality and self-interest motivate his own behavior and the behavior of society in general.

"Let me tell you the real wisdom of Solomon: Drink fine wines, stuff yourself with delicacies, bury yourself in luscious flesh and lounge on designer sheets; all else is vanity," proclaims the Nephew, who makes his living largely by sponging off the wealthy.

With talk about art, ethics, altruism, Shakespeare, Diogenes and other topics, the argument stays relatively heady, so director Richard Henrich and Perna -- a performer with an extensive dance background -- have hit on the not-unreasonable idea of infusing the play with movement and comedy via the character of the Nephew. Thus while Cronin, as the Philosopher, stands around with walking stick in hand, looking like a stuffed shirt from a William Hogarth engraving (he does most of his acting with his forehead), Perna mimes and gambols as if there's no tomorrow. He strikes balletic poses, acts out metaphors and allusions with flourishing hand gestures, runs in place, executes a handstand, a backward somersault and other gymnastic moves, and at one point does a chattering, flailing impression of a monkey.

That approach might express the Nephew's impudent iconoclasm, but it eventually becomes tedious and goofy. In one particularly excruciating sequence, Perna plunges into a symphonic coughing spell, complete with musical rhythms and changing pitches. The joke -- meant to illustrate the lung power the Nephew has developed by obsequiously flattering the rich -- seems to go on for at least 20 times longer than is necessary to make the point. Let us hope a large stock of throat lozenges is available in the dressing room.

On a more positive note, designer Emily Dere decks the performers out in convincing period costumes. She's also responsible for the set, which consists principally of a tile-like black-and-white floor pattern and a cloth backdrop bearing outlines of arches and columns. On the auditory front, a harpsichord-rich excerpt from the work of the real French composer Rameau evokes the time period deftly.

One has to admire Spooky Action for daring to stage this provocative piece of intellectual history in the first place. If only this line from "Rameau's Nephew" weren't all too true: "In chess, art, music and other nonsense, what good is mediocrity?"

Rameau's Nephew, adapted from Denis Diderot by Shelly Berc and Andrei Belgrader. Directed by Richard Henrich; lighting, Laurence Zoll. About 1 hour 40 minutes. Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint, 916 G St. NW. Through April 2. Call 800-494-TIXS or visit http://www.spookyaction.org .