Passionate acting in a provocative play

• Reprints

“Courting Vampires” at Clockwise Theatre features (clockwise from front), David Thomases, Norma Serna and Christina Thodos.

Updated: January 24, 2012 9:05PM

Laura Schellhardt’s provocative yet flawed “Courting Vampires” gets a good run for the money in Clockwise Theatre’s production as directed by Alexandra Main.

Although the storyline meanders unnecessarily, Main’s fine cast captures the heart of Schellhardt’s allegorical drama about a woman seeking vengeance on behalf of her younger sister who unwittingly contracted a fatal disease from a lover. AIDS isn’t mentioned by name, but the implication is clear.

Tightly wound Rill (Christina Thodos) assumes the role of an attorney seeking to balance the scales of justice for what has befallen her hyperactive, free-spirited sister Nina (Norma Serna). Rill announces her intention to kill the man who destroyed her beloved sister’s life and bury him face down.

The “trial” that runs through “Courting Vampires” takes place in Rill’s mind, though flashbacks shift in location from courtroom to office, courtyard to graveyard as “evidence” is gathered that reveals the explosive events leading up to and including Nina’s fatal tryst with Jim Slade, the man she couldn’t shake.

Looking for adventure, Nina exclaims: “I want that man to undo me. He makes me feel like I exist.” In doing so, Slade draws blood as he seduces his unsuspecting victim.

The sisters’ disruptive home life also comes to light in scenes showing them comforting their stressed-out father who became mentally unhinged when he was abandoned by his wife.

In an especially moving scene, a distraught Rill decries an objection that there’s no precedence for the case. She unrelentingly argues that her sister received a death sentence “in the springtime of her life” —one that unfairly robbed her of “a vast unrealized future.”

It’s an explanation, but hardly a justification for the villain’s crime, when as the trial proceeds, a vampire called as an expert witness seeks to justify his fellow vampire’s actions.“I suffer from great hunger,” he tells the court.

Christina Thodos is full of passion as she capitalizes of her role as the buttoned-down, protective older sibling who wrestles with demons her own. Sprite-like Norma Serna, as Nina, truly seems caught up in another world — transfixed by fireworks and fantasies.

Meanwhile, David Thomases deftly handles all the male roles, from doctor and coworker to vampire and clergyman.

Director Main does double duty as scenic designer and has created an effective, versatile set that easily shifts from cemetery to office to church. Black-and-white video and film projections by Liviu Pasare add to the eeriness as does moody lighting provided by Dave Miller.