If you’re looking for a nice, relaxing play to soothe your work-jangled nerves, PacRep’s Fully Committed is not for you. If you’re looking for a manic and hilarious show that features virtuoso acting, writing and direction, then buy your ticket immediately.

Here’s the deal. John Farmanesh-Bocca plays nearly 40 wildly different characters in a breakneck yet acutely controlled performance that manages to be funny, touching, thought-provoking and intensely stressful.

As Sam Peliczowski, Farmanesh-Bocca portrays an out-of-work actor experiencing the worst day at the worst job he will ever have. Sequestered in the basement of the ritziest restaurant in New York, Peliczowski fields phone calls from a panoply of insanely demanding people willing to cajole, bribe, threaten and wheedle him into giving them a table.

Between the callers he has to deal with his tyrant chef boss, an outrageously snooty maitre d’, a stressed but sympathetic hostess, a truant co-worker, the entire kitchen staff and his endearingly unassuming father, who wants him to come home to Indiana for Christmas.

Farmanesh-Bocca’s seamless transitions between all of these different characters is a joy and a wonder to watch. It’s incredible how distinct the characters are. In hindsight, it’s easy to forget that Farmanesh-Bocca actually portrayed each and every one.

What’s more is he manages to convey this broad spectrum of characters without resorting to simple caricatures. Each of the characters, even the ones with the briefest of appearances, are presented with some degree of depth and humor and empathy. In the hands of less talented actor, Fully Committed could be an offensive nightmare, but Farmanesh-Bocca conveys stereotypical characters like Naomi Campbell’s gay personal assistant, a Japanese woman who speaks in laughably bad English, an Italian mafioso, a Jewish society matron, a Wisconsin hick and a southern grand dame with a deft touch. The only character not portrayed sympathetically is the French maitre d’, but then I can’t seem to think of any sympathetic French characters in recent memory.

Highlights include his boss, the a-hole chef whose abusive attacks protect his fragile culinary ego; Sam’s lonely and recently widowed dad who’s desperate for him to come home for Christmas, but is too nice to make any demands of his son; and a feisty senior citizen who calls to complains that her AARP discount was not honored at the famous restaurant.

When he’s not taking calls, Sam is making them, phoning up his empty mailbox at the Village Voice’s personals, or his agent’s assistant, who tells Sam that he’s very talented but may not be getting jobs because he fails to project any sense of personal entitlement.

Which, of course, is true. He’s pathetic. We spend most of the play waiting for Sam to quit the job like any other healthy person would do. When he agrees to mop up a gloopy mess in the ladies’ room, it’s clear Sam is suffering from some serious self-loathing and we begin to see that he may deserve precisely what he’s getting in life.

Yet a number of the plot threads which connect the dozens of characters in Becky Mode’s frenetic script resolve themselves when Sam finally stops being completely passive. The turnaround is not quite earned. Sam is such a doormat for the first nine-tenths of the play that we find it hard to believe he suddenly grows the knocker required to pocket a bribe, blackmail his co-worker and tell his boss what he really thinks about his Orange Ruffy. Regardless, we’re so exhausted by the pace of the thing that we’re content to see Sam come out on top.

John Rousseau’s direction is flawless. Despite the convoluted nature of the narrative, we are always keenly aware of who’s on the phone and who’s still on hold. It’s an enthralling volley of voices punctuated by rings, dial tones, and “Can you holds?” Plus, Rousseau’s set design creates a triangle of panic which sends Sam racing between his desk, the direct line to the chef and the house phone which connects him to the kitchen and the maitre d’. The result is atomic, with Farmanesh-Bocca bouncing around inside like a free electron.

Amazingly, both Rousseau and Farmanesh-Bocca are pulling double duty on PacRep’s production of the Full Monty. Rousseau is outstanding as Dave, the best friend of Jerry, who’s played by Farmanesh-Bocca.

These two are on a roll and making great theater. Farmanesh-Bocca, who now lives in Los Angeles, is an equity actor with local roots. It’s nice to see homegrown talent come home to pay such rich dividends.

FULLY COMMITTED plays at 2pm on Saturday and 7:30pm on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Circle Theatre, Casanova between Eighth and Tenth, Carmel. Tickets are $28/general admission; $20/seniors; $12/students. For more information call 622-0700 or visit pacrep.org.