AUDIENCE WILL LOVE PRODUCTON OF `LUV'

Luv, to fracture a lovely old song, is a many-splintered thing.

Quite possibly, one of the best writers to turn those splintery prickles into splendid tickles is Murray Schisgal, whose two-act comedy, "LUV," is the 1992 presentation of Southeast Missouri State University's Summer Touring Theatre, which will appear at Rose Theatre Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets will be available at the door, and there will be no reserved seats.

There'll probably be no "reserve" IN the seats, either, as audiences respond to the hilarious emotional antics of the three talented cast members as they out-fumble and out-bumble each other in search of that most precious and elusive human commodity. And it might as well be called "luv," for all the help the correct spelling, "love," would be.

Veteran Arthur Wilhite, turning in what may well be the best acting job of his career, plays Milt Manville, self-proclaimed success in stocks, bonds, etc., and possessed of a compulsion to collect "second-hand bric-a-brac" (translation: TRASH).

Milt's college-days friend, Harry Berlin, is a different dog entirely. Broadly done by Matthew Garner, whose excellent body language and mobile facial expressions hold much promise for future acting success but whose articulation and projection need a bit of sharpening up, Harry perceives and presents himself as a complete and utter failure, a far cry from the shining image of his youth.

The two men play a neat game of one-downsmanship, each trying to out-do the other in expressing (and wildly exaggerating) past and present injustices and unhappinesses.

Of course, cherchez la femme. There is, naturally, a woman. Actually, there are two women, but we see only one, and she's quite enough! Kara Cracraft, whose acting career includes roles in everything from "Snoopy" to "The Merry Wives of Windsor," starts out as Milt's unhappy, about-to-be-dumped wife, Ellen.

Milt maneuvers Ellen and Harry together (again, there's a battle about who's unhappiest); Cracraft moves deftly from high to low, rationally irrational to irrationally rational, never skipping a beat. When Milt decides that her divorcing Harry would take too long, and that there's another way "out" that would actually be doing Harry a "favor," Ellen hesitates only a little...and their joint attempts are splashingly funny, if not quite according to plan.

Dr. Robert W. Dillon Jr., the director, is incisive in bringing the many elements of human relations (focused on the most basic, love) under what he calls "the cutting blade of comic ridicule," yet leaving the reality and importance of that emotion intact.

Because this is a touring show, many economies are practiced and may even make it a better production than one accorded the luxury of full "main stage" treatment.

The set and lighting, designed by Dennis C. Seyer to fit neatly into one small van, consist of a platform, a footbridge, two park benches, a trash basket, a lamp post and two lighting poles plus a minimum of sound equipment.

The production crew (which includes the actors) loads and unloads the set pieces and equipment at each stop, handling also such matters as costumes and make-up. Steve Weiss of Cape Girardeau is Stage Manager; other production crew members are John Christopher Dick of Detroit, Mich.; Robert F. Hout of Sikeston; and of course Cracraft and Wilhite of Cape Girardeau and Garner of Sikeston.

By the time "LUV" gets back for its Cape Girardeau run, the company will have entertained at Sesser, Ill., Dyersburg, Tenn., and East Prairie. Its final stop will be Ste. Genevieve.

It is unfortunate that budgetary constrictions have shortened this summer's tour; usually the students are able to take their shows to eight or ten locations in the university's service area, not only providing live entertainment for a variety of audiences and fleshed-out learning for themselves, but also spreading good will for the university.

Nonetheless, the folks who do see "LUV" will have a barrel of fun following the three actors through their convolutions as they try to get a handle on that which is supposed to make the world go 'round but actually just twists everybody into a dizzy tizzy.

Ellen has some of the more sensible lines, and Cracraft delivers them with insight and conviction.

"Love isn't a commodity that you can measure. And yet there are different degrees of it. We have to know what we can expect from one another." (And it isn't often what we think!)

Later she says, "If anything love is a giving and taking, an interchange of emotions, a gradual development based on physical attraction, complementary careers, and simple social similarities."

Sounds great, but mix that grand philosophizing with ropes, knives, jumping (or falling, or being pushed) off bridges!

No wonder each of the three (and sometimes all three) warble off-key lines from the Irving Joseph song that starts "Love cast its shadow over my heart," meanders through several more or less mournful stanzas, and ends, "Love ... look what you've done to me."

Well, what "LUV" has done to its audiences is send them out laughing heartily, ready to face whatever LOVE, or anything else, flings their way. It's a happy summer show, just the dose we need to get rid of all the other absurdities the world around us offers.