STAGE REVIEW : ‘The Dragon’ a Lacerating Allegory of Political Change

The people love their local dragon. He protects them from other dragons and from the Gypsies. Not that they’ve actually seen any other dragons, or Gypsies, but that’s because their dragon does his job so well.

So the villagers slave over the dragon’s supper--and occasionally become his supper. Once a year, they sacrifice one of their own daughters to the dragon. It seems like a small price to pay for peace. But a brave knight named Lancelot doesn’t buy it.

This is the premise for Soviet playwright Yevgeny Schwartz’s sometimes lacerating allegory, “The Dragon.” Written in 1943, when totalitarian dragons were demanding their own human sacrifices, “The Dragon” has been staged at Friends and Artists Theatre in Los Feliz by Florinel Fatulescu, who was inspired by his native Romania’s experience with its dragon, Nicolae Ceausescu.

The production design, overseen by Robert W. Zentis, is virtually the star here. With a large cast and a small stage, Fatulescu and Zentis don’t waste time or money trying to create big sets for the central scenes. They leave room for the actors on center stage.

But the periphery is a different story. A Rube Goldberg-like contraption lines two sides of the stage (and connects overhead), its crannies and crevasses filled with huddled villagers, each one repeating the same monotonous motions ad nauseam. The result of all this labor: a trickle of liquid periodically emerges from one side of the machine, to be scooped up by one of the dragon’s henchmen. This maniacal waterworks looks like something out of the Brothers Grimm and vividly suggests the drudgery the villagers endure on behalf of their master.

The costumes, too, are fairy-tale fanciful. But the dialogue has a down-to-earth humor that, thankfully, keeps the show from becoming precious.

Nothing has stopped it from going on too long, however. Songs by Rodica Fatulescu add variety to the show’s texture but aren’t always articulated well and sometimes seem superfluous. The byplay between the Cat and the Donkey who sometimes serve as narrators is overdone, as is some of the mugging by the Mayor.

Still, it’s undeniably fascinating to watch the villagers revert to old habits after the dragon is slain--and, in a final ominous touch added by Fatulescu, to observe the potential within Lancelot for becoming yet another dragon.

This wise and audacious tale retains its power in contemporary America--think of the dragon as the federal deficit or the throwaway society or any number of other analogues. Fatulescu’s staging is more interesting than a dozen more polished but less ambitious productions.

* The Dragon,” Friends and Artists Theatre, 1761 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, Fridays, 8 p.m., Saturdays-Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Runs indefinitely. $12.50. (213) 664-0689. Running time: 3 hours.