It's hard to understand why three such different plays have been combined into one program at the Experimental Theater. No sooner is the mood for one established than it is over and a completely new theme takes over the stage. The caliber of acting varies tremendously among the three, ranging from very bad to superb.

Watching The Informer is rather like being hit with a sledgehammer. In case the title doesn't get the point across, Brecht uses a prologue and epilogue, both Fraught with Meaning, to drived his point home. And the point is so hackneyed that I found myself trying to read between the lines, sure that there was some subtle message I was missing. Unfortunately, there wasn't. Sometimes good acting can save a poor piece of work, but in this case overacting just lent to the production's problems.

Rosalie Phillips is too forced in her presentation of The Mother. You can almost see her preparing each line before she delivers it to produce the "maximum effect." And while Mike Owens paces around and wrings his hands, he just doesn't seem to believe in what he's doing. His actions are too studied; his outbursts too rehearsed. Frank Mitton is rather unconvincing as the son; part of the trouble may be that he just doesn't look like a small boy. Margaret Manners might have redeemed the show if she'd had a bigger part. She appeared about three times, and had no lines, but her movement and her facial expressions said more than all the others' ranting and histrionics. True, the actors didn't have a great deal of substance to work with. There's limit to how many different ways you can vent your frustrations with life on "the rain." But I think that more understanding of the play, and less of an effort to assist Brecht in his valiant effort to make sure nobody in the audience missed the impact of what he was trying to say might have helped.

Johan Johan was fast-moving and amusing, largely through the efforts of Niocholas Deutsch. As the cuckolded, henpecked fool, Deutsch appeals to the audience for support; taking then into his confidence; sharing with them his mingled dislike, distrust, and fear of his wife. From intense anger he passes quickly to childlike puzzlement, and both moods are refreshingly convincing. The program notes explain that this play of Heywood's was written in 1533 as "pure entertainment." As such, it succeeds quite well; light and artfully done, it is a delightful bit of nonsense. Someone who wants to get annoyed or insulted at the content matter (the lecherous priest who is having an affair with his parishioner's wife) can find good excuse, but if you view the play solely for amusement, it's quite enjoyable. Innes McDade, as Tyb, was good on the whole, but rather tedious. Her facial expressions tended to be too artificial, falling into set patterns for each emotion she wanted to convey, and Johan's artful interplay with the audience lost its easy intimacy and became rather forced when she attempted to employ it. Jack Salomon, as the priest, was more natural and consequently funnier.

But the third play, Chekhov's Swan Song, would in itself be enough reason for going to the Ex tonight. Like much of Chekhov's work, the play is concerned with the conflict of old and new, the present and what has gone before. This conflict is centered in the figure of the old actor, who is superbly portrayed by Julian Lopez Morrillas One moment he is the aged, broken, drunk old man; the next, one sees his genious flash through as he monologues excerpts from Antony's funeral oration and Lear's storm speech. Eyes blazing, he momentarily recaptures the brilliance he possessed as a young actor. As the aged prompter, Mike Owens is good, but is really primarily a foil for the actor.

So if you don't mind being rapidly transported from 1935 Cologne to 16th century Merrie England to an empty theater in the provinces, and you're not one of those people who takes offense at having a message drummed into you by both play and actors, it will be well worth your while to catch the show at the Ex tonight. Lopez Morrillas' performance in itself will be enough to make you consider the evening well spent.