THE STAGE

Butley. At least when Alan Bates had the load, this was a tremendously funny play, literally a laugh a minute. The subject matter is unlikely--a boozy English English professor at a red brick university who in a single day manages to lose his wife, his job and his homosexual lover. It's impossible to predict whether or not the hard-edged English ability to turn pathos into comedy will be well reproduced at Dunster House, but if the Dunster House British Comedy Evening last year was any indication, they have the ability to do very well indeed. At Dunster dining room tonight, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday at 8:30 p.m. as well as next weekend.

Arms and the Man. Shaw hits the Mainstage again, in one of his classic intellectual comedies about a Bulgarian nobleman who writes an operetta called The Chocolate Soldier because he loads his revolver with chocolate. Shaw outraged public opinion with this play by revealing that Bulgarians of high social position did not bathe. The director is the very accomplished Evangline Morphos, but the Mainstage's penchant for competent, unexciting productions of good but not great plays will probably not be reversed. Tonight through Sunday at 8 p.m. as well as next week.

Several Characters in Search of an Overture. An unusual, student-written production, with lots of music by people who've done this kind of thing before and proved they can handle it. Tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at the Loeb Ex at 7:30 p.m.