Euripides’ Orestes offers Greek tragedy as it’s almost never seen onstage – a bleak black comedy which gets crazier as murder plots and bad behavior escalate.

The central issue is that Orestes (John Polak) and his sister Electra (Melissa Hamilton) have iced their mother Clytemnestra as revenge for her murder of daddy Agamemnon, and the powers that be in Argos are gathering to pronounce sentence on them. The sentence is likely to be stoning.

Orestes has gone seriously bonkers since he heeded the god Apollo’s call to kill papa, and now he’s huddled in a hallucinating, guilt-ridden lump on the couch – or is he only mad north by northwest, as a later tragic figure will claim?

Can – or will – anyone help these homicidal sibs? One person who might is their weakling uncle Menelaus (Fred Harlow, a hoot in flowing blond tresses), whose slutty wife Helen has preceded him to Athens to mourn her sister Clytemnestra, and is even now being hosted by her sister’s killers.

But Menelaus gives a mealymouthed response to his nephew’s plea, and things go from bleak to hopeless for the brother and sister team, especially when a messenger arrives with the expected word that stoning has been ordered.

Orestes has only one friend in Athens – Pylades (Chris Fonseca) – who swears to die with his buddy until another, utterly goofy idea dawns: why don’t they kill Helen? And Electra chimes in to suggest they kidnap Helen’s daughter Hermione (Diana Sparta), to further discomfit Menelaus.

Along for this over-the-top ride is the chorus, a gyrating group of women in blood-red lipstick, short black, sparkly dresses and blinding platinum-blonde wigs. Oh, and tap shoes. And they sing some fine close harmony penned by local actor/vocal coach/singer Leigh Scarritt.

Director Douglas Lay has assembled a fine cast for this extravaganza, costumed hilariously by Lawrence Taryn and Ann Miggins. Polak is a properly lean, hungry and haunted-looking Orestes; Hamilton’s Electra more practical of look and demeanor. Harlow’s Menelaus is a stitch with that wig, and Fonseca excellent as Pylades

Euripides wrote Orestes in 408, as the Peloponnesian War was winding down. The war exhaustion evident in his earlier Trojan Women is in full sway here, and all the main characters are portrayed as self-serving, venal, stupid, degenerate or just plain crazy.

The last Euripidean play presented in Athens’ theater of Dionysus before the playwright fled Greece to live out his days in Macedon, Orestes is wild, woolly and extremely funny, but along with the laughs comes a recognizable undercurrent of despair at the appalling behavior of the human species.

Director Douglas Lay (who also plays three parts) is master of the controlled chaos, bringing this comedy to a hilarious close by presenting Apollo as a game-show host who ends the play on a happy note.

This isn’t your standard Greek tragedy, but it sure is fun.

Orestes plays through Sunday, March 21, at The Theatre, Inc. Shows Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 7 p.m. For tickets, call 619-216-3016 or visit www.thetheatreinc.com.

On Highway 57, between Frog Level and Smyrna, North Carolina, life is simple. Men are men, women are women, and fishing is king.

There’s a gas station out there, run by four “pump boys” who fish, sing and flirt with the Cupp sisters who run the Double Cupp Diner next door. When the guys pick up their instruments, they’re also a pretty mean band. And oh yes, occasionally they try to fix a car, but take their time about it. They are, in fact, “Taking It Slow” on the rebuild of the Winnebago now up on blocks out back.

Lamb’s Players Theatre makes its third visit to Pump Boys and Dinettes, this time at its mainland Horton Grand Theatre location, where its run has been extended through Sunday, March 28. Deborah Gilmour Smyth directs.

No need to worry about plot: this is more country/western revue than play, reminding us in song of a lifestyle that has all but disappeared from the American scene. Here, where “arms are brown, chests white and necks red,” the jokes are corny and often redneck, the songs c/w in flavor, the characters down-home and real.

The pump boys are guitarist L.M. (Jim Mooney); “Lover Boy” and pianist Jackson (Leonard Patton); bassist Eddie (Oliver Shirley) and lead guitarist Jim (Nick Spear).

Over in the diner, the vivacious Cupp sisters Rhetta (Marci Anne Wuebben) and Prudie (Season Duffy) serve up pie and typical diner delicacies with sass, a smile and the expectation of “Tips.” (Better bring some spare bills with you; these girls sashay through the aisles collecting.)

Prudie is on the lookout for “The Best Man (I Never Had)” and Rhetta, a single mom with two kids, needs a “Vacation.”

Conveniently, neither business has customers during the show (though poor Uncle Bob keeps calling about that woebegone Winnebago), giving each cast member time for a blockbuster song.

Speaking of the cast, this one’s terrific. All are fine singers, musicians and actors and obviously having a whale of a time with this show. From the girls’ sneaker tap shoes to Prudie’s washboard percussion playing, Pump Boys and Dinettes is just plain fun to watch.

This oddball little show began off Broadway in 1981; months of packed houses sent it to Broadway, where in 1982 it was nominated for a Tony and four Drama Desk awards.

There’s no message here, no profound philosophical discussion or political points being made. Pump Boys and Dinettes is a foot-stompin’, thigh-slappin’ good time.

Lamb’s Players Theatre’s production of Pump Boys and Dinettes plays through Sunday, March 28, at the Horton Grand Theatre. Shows Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 4 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets, call 619-437-0600 or visit www.lambsplayers.org.