It would be nice to report that Rattlestick's outstanding revival of Saved Or Destroyed was now being succeeded by an outstanding new play. Alas, such is not the case.

The world premiere of Lucy Thurber's Killers and Other Family would make an interesting case study for advanced students of psychiatry. As a play it has the feel of a TV crime show, but without a crime show writer's realistic details and soundly motivated characters. Ms. Thurber has so overcooked the plot and characters of her potentially interesting behind-the-headlines situation that, if it were indeed the television crime drama, you would soon hit the off-button of your remote. Her cast consists of two intelligent women (could this be intended as a feminist thriller?) and two not very solidly packed men.

Both men are bad news. Danny (Dan Snook now Shane McCrae) who at first seems like a mean drunk is in fact psychotic. A forensic psychiatrist I recently heard interviewed, declared there are three million Dannys roaming this country. I doubt he'd swallow Ms. Thurber's manipulation of this character. Danny's buddy Jeff (Jason Weinberg now played by Dashiell Eaves). is just a shade less demented, and probably even dumber,.

Elizabeth (Ana Reeder now played by Samantha Soule), Jeff's kid sister and Danny's ex-girlfriend, is the play's central figure. I suppose you could even call her its heroine. She has escaped Danny's and Jeff's emotional and sexual abuse by virtue of a college education and a lesbian relationship. Or so she thinks. The lesbian love affair seems less a case of genuine sexual inclination than a reaction to the fear of men (besides being seduced by Danny when she was just twelve, she also had to dodge her alcoholic mother's boyfriends). This bright young woman is about to get her PhD in an unspecified specialty, probably something to do with calming down bipolar killers. If the methods she uses here are any indication, her dissertation is unlikely to pass muster.

Claire (Tessa Auberjonois now played by Aya Cash) is Elizabeth's lover. Unlike the other three she has had the benefit of a middle class, two-parent upbringing and is thus the normal member of this foursome. This normalcy comes into serious question when she fails to take advantage of several chances to get away from the play's increasing mayhem and call the police.

The four actors, especially Ana Reeder, almost convince you that there is a worthy play lurking within these messy events. Too bad that their valiant effort to grapple with their characters' contradictions is undermined not just by the script but the staging. Director John Lawler, who comes to Rattlestick with outstanding credentials has badly miscued his design team.

The pounding music that makes waiting for the play to begin feels like sitting through endless noisy previews at a movie theater is at least appropriate to the play -- but Mr. Lawler seems to have forgotten that he's not directing an opera when he had his sound designer accompany a sex scene that's really a rape with Offenbach's Barcarolle. Given that this is a downtown Manhattan walkup, the room-sized arched window that faces a brick wall makes the set as incongruous as what happens on it.

To conclude, don't let this unenthusiastic appraisal keep you away from the excellent Rattlestick and its cozy home on Waverly Place. I've seen a number of solid new plays there over the years -- and expect to see more of the same.

> The premiere production was directed by John Lawler, with sets by Charles Kirby, lighting by Bobby Harrell, costumes by Dave Barber and Sound by Jason Mills It played at the Rattlestick from 1/17/01 to 2/18/01 and also ran 85 minutes without intermission