Entertainment

‘Gentle’ acquits itself well

“Don’t Go Gentle” starts like a classic “when opposites collide” comedy: A white, conservative former DA and retired judge helps out a black, unemployed single mom and her cheeky teenage son.

Uh-oh, are we going to be “trapped in an episode of ‘Different F – – king Strokes,’ ” as a character puts it?

Happily, the answer is no. Playwright Stephen Belber takes us in a different, intriguing — if not always credible — direction. If you can suspend disbelief, this new MCC production delivers an absorbing, well-crafted story, a rarity right now, both on Broadway and off.

After leaving the bench, the snippy Lawrence (Michael Cristofer, wearing self-righteousness like a second skin) grudgingly takes up pro bono counseling on the advice of his daughter, Amelia (Jennifer Mudge). His first case is Tanya (Angela Lewis), who spent 2 1/2 months in jail for a wrongful conviction.

Tanya arrives at Lawrence’s comfy, slightly run-down home with her 16-year-old son, Rasheed (Maxx Brawer, in a terrific debut). You can’t blame them for being wary of Lawrence, who used to imprison people like them by the dozens.

Everybody gives as good as they get in fast and loose pingpong volleys, especially after Amelia and her brother, Ben (David Wilson Barnes), enter the mix.

A master of caustic banter, Barnes gives us a defensive deadbeat who did time for dealing heroin and has been clean for two years, while Mudge brings freshness to the familiar role of a suburban mom who hits the red wine — “it’s medicinal.”

Belber, whose plays include “Match” and “Dusk Rings a Bell,” has also written for “Law & Order: SVU,” and it shows: Things move at a quick clip, and the excellent cast, under Lucie Tiberghien’s assured direction, crisply handles the twists and turns.

The characters’ sarcastic exchanges could have filled an entire show, but Belber opts for a more rewarding, but riskier, course as Tanya and Rasheed eventually move in with Lawrence.

“It’s not charity,” he assures the teenager. “It’s self-correction.”

“You coulda just said, ‘I was a s – – tty dad, so now I’m housing a black kid,’ ” Rasheed teases.

While Lawrence’s motives remain somewhat murky, it’s still engrossing to watch the situation evolve as he gets closer to his new friends and further from his own offspring.

A nearly silent scene toward the end is so tense that you could feel the audience holding its collective breath.

And it’s a relief to see that Lawrence’s apparent softening doesn’t make him any more — or less — sympathetic. He had the life he had, the children he had. Time to face the consequences, just as he used to tell the convicted.