Janet (Ususally JPflc@aol.com, but sending this from work)

'Doors' swings on unhinged plot NEW YORK - What a mind it must take to imagine an equal meeting of sex farce, whodunit and science fiction. Even more impressive is the playwright who can make such a blend work - and make the workings a fascinating element unto themselves. So it is with Alan Ayckbourn, long known as the British counterpart to Neil Simon. He daringly bends genres in Communicating Doors, the latest of his plays to reach these shores (*** out of four). It opened Aug. 14 at the off-Broadway Variety Arts Theatre, somewhat hobbled by an uneven cast but coming through in key moments, thanks mostly to Mary-Louise Parker (Fried Green Tomatoes) who's creating another superb characterization of a working-class woman whose instincts blaze while her intelligence flags. You could be forgiven for not buying the play's premise: A dominatrix hired by a dying business tycoon to witness his deathbed confession finds herself hiding in a closet that turns out to have time-travel abilities. This gives her the opportunity to prevent murders, nasty business deals and spiritual corruption and to unknowingly change her own circumstances. The play's message is noble: It's a huge, confusing world, but we all have the power to change it. But savvy theatergoers may guess the plot's surprises long before they unfold, and how much they'll care when the twists do come unwound will depend entirely on their sympathy with the actors. With Parker, I cared. With the others, I cared but intermittently. One indisputable source of appeal, however, is the mechanics of the play, the way one genre melds into another; Ayckbourn stays true to each while grafting it onto something else in a way that might have seemed unthinkable. At best, all three smashingly converge, as in a scene in which the characters discover that the murderer they've disposed of in one time frame is still at large and dangerous in another. In a role that could seem fragile amid such a convoluted plot, Parker so precisely conveys every line's intent, context and subtext in such simple strokes that everything she does is entrancing. As her accomplice, Patricia Hodges goes for high-voltage attitude at the expense of wit. Some performances in minor roles are barely adequate, though former TV sex symbol David McCallum (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) does a nice character bit as the hotel's thick-headed house detective - an added curiosity in a curiously entertaining play. By David Patrick Stearns, USA TODAY