ROSENBERG SPY CASE FERTILE TERRITORY FOR DRAMA.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

WHATEVER ELSE people may say about Lou Shaw's ``Worse Than Murder,'' - and heaven knows, the play invites discussion - let nobody accuse the playwright of lacking a take.

Casting doubts on one of our nation's most fascinating and hotly debated episodes, the play suggests that convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were victims of a government- and FBI-led conspiracy. Not only should the Rosenbergs not have been executed for giving military secrets to the Russians, they just plain didn't do it.

Granted, such an assertion won't exactly land Shaw in the Oliver Stone hall of fame. Nor - more importantly - does the playwright's agenda get in the way of his ability to tell a compelling story. And the against-type decision to cast Linda Hamilton (of ``Terminator'' fame) as Ethel Rosenberg works startlingly well. In case there was any doubt, the lady can act.

But Shaw is trying to juggle one plot line too many. ``Worse Than Murder'' is a love story, but it's also a dramatized attempt by the Rosenbergs' orphaned sons, Robby and Michael Meeropol, to ``fill in the blanks'' and thereby come to terms with their parents' legacy. Instead of using them as a conventional framing device, Shaw has the two sons in the present interacting with key figures - J. Edgar Hoover, Roy Cohn - from their parents' past. (The boys were 10 and 6 years old when the Rosenbergs were executed).

It's something of an awkward balance. As written and as played by Dennis Gersten and Murray Rubinstein, the Meeropols are ``Worse Than Murder's'' least interesting element. The play seems to either need more of them or a lot less.

Through their eyes, folks like Hoover (Dennis Cockrum), Cohn (Judd Trichter) and sentencing Judge Irving Kaufman (William Knight) would naturally come across all but sprouting fangs and twirling mustaches.

Far more effective is the play's depiction of a love between two people who lived, fought and died, utterly united. In Hamilton's portrayal, we may not always see the ``fierce ambition'' people are continuously saying that Ethel possesses. But even when acting out a Joan of Arc speech in prison, this Ethel is clearly nobody's victim. As Julius, who drops out of the play for a lengthy stretch after he is jailed, Robin Thomas is quietly principled and ever hopeful. The two actors have excellent chemistry.

The Rosenberg case certainly makes for compelling drama. Shaw and director Tom Bissinger need to decide whose story it is most - that of the convicted spies or their damaged children.

WORSE THAN MURDER - Three stars

Where: Ventura Court Theatre, 12417 Ventura Court, Studio City.When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; through June 30.

Tickets: $25. Call [phone].