Entertainment

‘Early’ O’Neill at sea

Three seafaring one-acts by Eugene O’Neill make up “Early Plays” — a collaboration between the Wooster Group and Richard Maxwell, with Brian Mendes (left) and Ari Fliakos. (
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Don’t let the author’s name throw you: Though these “Early Plays” are by Eugene O’Neill, these aren’t your grandmother’s classics.

To begin with, you can’t really call the three one-act pieces presented here “classic.” Written between 1914 and 1918, the sea-inspired “The Moon of the Caribbees,” “Bound East for Cardiff” and “The Long Voyage Home” are evocative but youthful efforts.

More important, the show is the product of a rare collaboration between two acclaimed local experimenters: the Wooster Group and writer-director Richard Maxwell.

What’s interesting — if not entirely rewarding — is that their approaches are completely different. The Wooster Group is known for high-concept multimedia deconstructions. Maxwell pares things down and makes his actors speak in a monotone. The idea is that this makes audiences focus on the words, though said audiences sometimes prefer to flee, as they did during his infamous staging of “Henry IV, Part One” at BAM in 2003.

The good news is that “Early Plays,” which boasts compelling moments of mood-soaked ambience, shouldn’t drive anybody to a premature exit — especially since it’s only 90 minutes.

The playlets take place on or around the British steamer Glencairn, in a world where fate and the sea are equally cruel, and the language is as pungent as overproof rum.

“Down’t be showin’ yer igerance be tryin’ to make a mock o’ me what has seen more o’ the world than yeself ever will,” a seaman named Cocky (Keith Connolly) tells another at a stop in the West Indies.

The line is said flatly by an actor with his arms at his side — body language tends to be neutral as well.

Problem is, the show doesn’t quite gel. Partly this is because the text isn’t strong enough to warrant such unadorned attention. But it’s also because Maxwell acolytes like Jim Fletcher and Brian Mendes have more experience playing this game than do Woosterites such as Ari Fliakos and Kate Valk.

None of them is likely to cry out, “What’s my motivation?” but the first sound as if they’ve just discovered their lines, while the second slip into something resembling actual acting — like, you know, suggesting emotion.

Still, some of Maxwell’s gambles pay off. He sets most of “Bound East for Cardiff” in a near-darkness that forces theatergoers to listen closely.

And the folk-like songs the director wrote as transitions between the plays have a pure, almost innocent beauty. As with good sea shanties, they stay with you.