At the Fringe, "Dutch Masters" takes time to get started

Dutch Masters, whether the cigars or the painters, are secondary talking points in Greg Keller's play of the same title, but it's the kind of script that needs to keep you guessing, buying time while it gets down to business.

Though the play's core confidently and subtly navigates great emotional complexities in modern urban racial matters, much wading was necessary to get there at the Azuka Theatre's well-acted Saturday opening (running through Sept. 29).

Two college-age guys - one African American, one white - meet on the New York subway and, defying all common street sense, score drugs and get high together, even though the white guy is deeply frightened and, in defense, keeps telling one lame lie after another.

Never mind that the setting is early-'90s New York, when crime and interracial paranoia ran high. Or that we've seen many comic contrasts between those with sheltered, affluent lives and those who are less privileged but more in touch with the real world.

Once drugs lower inhibitions, the men realize they kind of grew up together: One of their moms worked for the other as domestic servant. Long-held resentments are thrashed out as secret information is revealed. With drug-induced volatility, Dutch Masters accelerates from zero to 80.

Unlike much of the 2013 Fringe Festival, the play's edge comes not from a high-concept presentation but serious examination of issues that Azuka frames in open-ended ways, leaving conclusions to the viewer. Kevin Glaccum's restrained direction and Meghan Jones' basic set made low budgets and the small Off-Broad Street Theatre stage advantageous.

The two actors generated special tension, though Brendan Dalton (the white kid) hit a glass ceiling halfway through: His characterization stopped progressing, though the writing had him spiraling ever further out of his comfort zone. Brandon Pierce (the street kid) gave a knockout performance, emotions ricochetting every direction, with an extra talent for playing levels of deception. As lies and delusions intermingle, he showed which are which with rage and vulnerability.

And the title? The pair smoke dope with emptied-out Dutch Masters cigars. One of them thinks the "masters" are slave owners. The other knows they're painters, while both play psychological "double Dutch" (the skip-rope game) and miss each other's meaning while speaking the same language.