John Barrymore careened onto the stage at the Mill Pond Center for the Arts Friday night, immediately grabbing the audience with a dose of dashing, commanding repartee. It's the spring of 1942, and the 60-year-old former matinee idol has rented the stage and hired a prompter for one night. The goal is to resurrect Richard III, the breakout role of his now-collapsed career.

Directed by Michael Curtiss with Chuck Galle in the title role, FASKARSNOPRA's production of William Luce's "Barrymore" depicts an imagined evening quite near the end of the actor's controversial and chaotic life. Barrymore once remarked that there were "so many women and so little time." This night, he feels his time is about to run out.

On a dimly lit, decrepit stage, with props that include draped furniture, a sword, a bowl of red apples (the Barrymore family symbol of well-wishes), a flyswatter and bottles of "medicinal" liquor, Galle as "Jack" Barrymore swaggers and staggers, reminiscing on his life, both public and private.

Barrymore seemed born to be the clown prince of the American stage's royal family. In his rebellious youth, he studied art in London and Paris, then returned to New York and worked as an illustrator for theNew York Evening Journal. When the Barrymores finally convinced him to join the family trade, he struggled in minor roles before his electrifying portrayal as Shakespeare's Richard III in 1920 brought him overnight acclaim as a serious actor. He would be the next Edwin Boothe, critics said. Shocking everyone, he moved to Hollywood instead, where he emerged from the shadow of his older brother Lionel and sister Ethel to become a matinee heartthrob. Storm clouds followed, though, and his final 15 years were filled with setbacks, divorces and forgotten lines. But Barrymore was never one to let adversity deplete his crude wit, and a drink would always bolster his bravado.

Rehearsing in 1942, his goal is to resurrect Richard III and himself. The problems: his triumphs were 20 years ago, he's since drunk a river of booze and paid out a fortune in alimony, and the world itself has been distracted by the recent bombings of Pearl Harbor. Most troubling, his ability to remember lines is shot. His hired prompter Frank labors on, but the lines won't come. Instead, Barrymore engages in an endless soliloquy composed from the lyrics of popular songs, randy limericks, fragments of sonnets and plays, and memories of love, lust and blunder. Draining a bottle, Barrymore tilts at the windmills of perceived slights and the pain of real failures in his childhood, his affairs and his friendships.

Chuck Galle's portrayal of Barrymore's descent is riveting. His presence and vocal range are well fitted to the manic shifts between crude and elegant, the heights of hilarity and the depths of emotion. He mimes, dances, sings and rages. I felt as if I were a reluctant witness to a confessional, wanting to avert my eyes and ears but finding the stories too compelling.

Guy Noyes as the prompter, Frank, was the perfect counterpoint to Galle. Though on stage most of the play, his lines are few and far between. His body language and rolling eyes express his discomfort and frustration with the lack of drive in the formerly great man.

The lighting by Abby Noyce evokes the dinginess of a worn theater and the approaching darkness of the play. It's too bad that the Mill Pond space doesn't allow for footlights; they would have heightened the sense of a stage within a stage.

Michael Curtiss has allowed his actors to milk the best out of a somewhat flawed script, which leaves one important question unanswered: What prompts this rehearsal? Was John Barrymore jealous of his brother Lionel's ability to overcome his own afflictions? Was he driven by a need for money? Luce never provides the reason for Barrymore's attempted return to greatness.

Nevertheless, the laughs and wit earn this production red apples all around.

"Barrymore" runs at the Mill Pond Center for the Arts in Durham through May 8. Shows are Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m. Tickets are $15 and $13 for students and seniors. Call 603-868-8999 for reservations.