Michael Bradford's "Fathers and Sons" is about estrangement

There is a very visible, sharply dressed, hipster ghost hanging out in "Fathers and Sons," Michael Bradford's new play at ACT Theatre.

According to the program, his name is Benard. And he circles the periphery of the action, just as this heartfelt but diffuse and repetitive drama of broken kinship keeps circling around itself.

A world premiere from ACT's Hansberry Project, "Fathers and Sons" contains many pungent exchanges, and a meaningful subject: the estrangement of fathers and sons through several generations of African-American men and how it might be healed.

The omnipresent phantom Benard Goodwater (Wilbur Penn) is the bad daddy incarnate — a trumpet-toting, be-bopping ne'er-do-well, who serves as a jive Greek chorus.

He was clearly a lousy father to his haunted son Leon (William Hall Jr.). And Leon returned the disfavor to his own offspring Marcus (Reginald André Jackson), by becoming a coke-sniffing, child-neglecting womanizer himself.

In "Fathers and Sons," staged in the round at ACT by Valerie Curtis-Newton, the two living relations, and the ghostly one, confront one another during a family crisis. And they confront, and confront, and confront.

A successful writer living in Harlem, Marcus is a more committed parent than his forebears. Yet he's the one racked with fear and guilt, over losing his 4-year-old boy Steven, who disappears during a routine father-son trip to the park.

If examined in a less circuitous, more trenchant fashion, the mystery of the child's disappearance and relationships between the sons and fathers might shape up into a more focused, searing drama. "Fathers and Sons" is capably performed and cogently directed. But the meandering, time-traveling work is like two different, competing plays.

In one, estranged male relatives exchange bitter recriminations, desperate excuses and rebuffed attempts to comfort.

In the other, more engaging tale, an attractive couple (Marcus and Yvette, played by Tracey A. Leigh) meet, court, marry, cope with post-traumatic battle stress, and then fracture in grief over the loss of a child.

Bradford's dialogue can sizzle and sting, and he exhibits a real flair for sexy romantic banter. That gift is exploited in the more intimate, sensuous scenes between Jackson and Leigh, who share a crackling rapport.

Clearly, the playwright wants to explore how a man like Marcus can overcome a legacy of parental neglect and misogyny to forge a committed marriage — and maybe even a reconciliation with his father.

But at two hours-plus, "Fathers and Sons" winds up saying a lot but revealing too little about the inner lives and specific circumstances of its characters.

The war experiences of Marcus are alluded to often but too vaguely. We also could use more specifics about Leon's saga. The police investigation into Steven's disappearance is barely mentioned until the end of the play. And though Penn is on the beat (musically and otherwise) as Benard, the role is a caricature.

Despite its shortcomings, you sense there's at least one compelling play nestled inside "Fathers and Sons." But it will take a lot of paring away and some digging deeper to bring it forth.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com