`Trouble On The Corner' -- Directed and Written by Alan Madison -- Producer Diane Kolyer -- Principal Cast Tammy Grimes, Tony Goldwyn, Debi Mazar and Giancarlo Esposito -- Next Showing today, 8.45 p.m. at Liberty Theatre.

*** What happens when you enclose a seemingly normal man in a small space and expose him to an array of people who demonstrate really bizarre behaviour -- some deviant by admission, while others are allowed to pretend they are sane.

Which side will win -- the forces of reason and sanity, or the darker powers of impulse and ultimately, of insanity? The lead character of Trouble On The Corner is Jeff, aworks from his apartment in a crumbling apartment building surrounded by strange neighbours and with a less than full patient list. We learn his modus operandi is to be as an invisible a presence as he can manage to be. How long can he keep this up? As the burden he carries becomes increasingly heavy, the more the stress builds up. His wife, `his rock' turns out to be his greatest tormentor. Finally he cracks, and the strange world he inhabits turns into a enclave of anarchy, where the flaws are determined by the majority as a direct response to the situation. Yes, It's all rather Greek.

This script, for all that it involves contemporary issues and characters that could only have evolved in the modern era, hearken back to classical folk lore. Indeed a seemingly disturbed personality, but in fact the harbinger of doom, dashes along the pavement, muttering: "There's trouble on the corner,'' just when the action is about to make a change for the worse, is a dead giveaway.

The film is chock-a-block with wonderful roles, every characterisation so well thought out that each one has a powerful place in the story, despite the relatively large size of the cast.

The director, Alan Madison who also wrote the screenplay, has taken great care that we do understand each and every character of this film. The stories of each of the neighbours are colourful, and because we see where they live and how they live, and as we witness their response to the action, we get to know each one surprisingly well.

On the other hand, his patients are largely restricted to his small office, and so they can only describe their lives. The script is well crafted, and because of that we feel the pain of the man who is losing his lover to AIDS and the housewife whose husband demeans her sexually.

Another character is Mr. B, an elderly man who represents Jeff's alter ego. He was imprisoned in the concentration camps during World War II, reflecting Jeff's own suffering. He easily wins the battle for Jeff's soul at the beginning -- represented by a game of chess, appearing to lose at the end but in fact achieving a surprise victory.

Several of the characterisations were interpreted with a light touch, which gave this otherwise dark film a comedic touch and providing it with balance and some light relief.

I loved the chain-smoking, religious fanatic who lived across the hall from Jeff and his wife, with the ability to call up biblical passages to suit the occasion and her own ends; and the dishevelled, dog walking lawyer who invariably met Jeff when he was putting the garbage out at night and tempted him with his own human frailties. A beautiful model -- a temptress -- who lived upstairs was another marvelously complex character, her beauty masking churning undercurrents of licentiousness, temptation and the struggle for power.

The story turns on a classic moral issue. As a psychiatrist he is morally obligated to keep his knowledge of his patients confidential. When he learns that one, who is a child molester, has his eye on a young girl he opts to break his oath of confidentiality and tells Phil, the detective. From there the story evolves along several interesting lines as Jeff reinvents himself.

This is a film which carries the audience along through a combination of dark fascination and simple curiosity. Every aspect was carefully thought out and executed, resulting in a story with plenty of ideas about the human psyche to mull over, while at the same time, providing an evening of good entertainment.

REBECCA ZUILL COUNSELLING -- Psychologist Jeff Stewart (Tony Goldwyn) counsels his patient Ericca Ricce (Debi Mazar) in `Trouble On The Corner' written and directed by Alan Madison.

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