MUCH MOURNING SICKNESS IN 'SIT AND SHIVER'.

Byline: Julio Martinez Correspondent

PLAYWRIGHT/DIRECTOR Steven Berkoff has certainly found a home with the West Los Angeles-based Odyssey Theatre Ensemble. Having its world premiere, ``Sit and Shiver'' is the seventh Berkoff play to be produced at the venue. As he did in his long-running hit, ``Kvetch,'' Berkoff has once again mined his middle-class Jewish roots to expose the humor, angst and folly inherent within a family that has built its tenuous solidarity on the not-too steady foundation of blind-faith tradition. Berkoff overstates his premise to the point of tedium, despite the committed efforts of an outstanding nine-member ensemble.

Set in New York City during the 1980s, the action centers on the troubled interactions of three generations of a family sitting shiva for Monte, the deceased family patriarch.

Monte's middle-aged daughter Debby (played by Ellen Gerstein) is determined that her beloved father deserves only the most tradition-bound shiva, where family and close friends gather for seven days and sit on hard, wooden boxes, sacrificing their personal comfort so they can give their hearts and minds over to adoration of the deceased. Of course, discomfort is only carried so far. A never-ending array of refreshments is served in the process.

Berkoff makes it ragingly clear that this gathering of interconnected souls who have known each other all their lives is really an opportunity for everyone to expose all the petty jealousies, regrets and resentments that are normally muffled within the flow of every day life. Debby's dissatisfaction with almost every aspect of her husband Lionel (Eric Poppick) is dished out in short, emasculating jibes.

Blinded by a lifetime of close-quarter sweatshop work as a pants cutter, Betty's intellectually transcendent brother Sam (Alexander Zale) is moved to vent his leftist indignation against the capitalistic success of longtime family friend Morris (Matt Gottlieb). Caught in the middle of all this emotional sparring is Lionel and Betty's son Mike (Elliot V. Kotek), a young actor who is harboring some resentments of his own.

In an overly long first act, Berkoff allows this familial infighting to carry on beyond its thematic relevance. Though the constant jousting is always colorful and occasionally downright hilarious, the production is merely treading water until the act-ending arrival of Mrs. Green (Rebecca Street), a divorced gentile who had worked part-time in Monte's tailor shop for many years. Her second-act revelations are so powerfully cathartic that they obliterate all the pettiness that came before.

In the program notes, Berkoff admits that many of the characters in ``Sit and Shiver'' are based on real people from his youth. This stage play would work much better if he spent a little less time with them.

SIT AND SHIVER - Two and one half stars

Where: Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays through June 13.

Tickets: $20.50 to $25. [phone].

In a nutshell: Though they are often colorful and flamboyant, the members of Steven Berkoff's troubled family overstay their welcome.