Stage Struck

New York, New York, U.S.A.: Seaver Books, 1981. First Edition . Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. One small edge tear on back of jacket. Remainder mark on bottom edge, otherwise in very nice condition. By ALVIN KLEIN Published: March 2, 1986, Sunday WITH its production of Simon Gray's seldom-seen ''Stage Struck,'' which runs through March 16, the enterprising Forum Theater Group here is inaugurating a mini-British festival. ''Stage Struck'' will be followed by the American premiere of ''Mr. Cinders,'' a 1929 musical recently revived on London's West End. It will run from April 30 through May 25. A 1979 London hit that starred Alan Bates, ''Stage Struck,'' a comedic, unmysterious mystery stuffed with transparent shades of ''Sleuth'' and ''Deathtrap,'' has only twice been presented in the United States (by the Pennsylvania Stage Company in Allentown and by Montclair's Summerfun Theater last summer). It is hardly likely that one will be seeing much more of ''Stage Struck,'' for this is one of those pseudothrillers that can run - on and on - in London, but close in a flash hereabouts. The Metuchen production coincides with the publication of a volume of essays by Mr. Gray, ''An Unnatural Pursuit and Other Pieces.'' Among other subjects, he writes about his play ''The Common Pursuit,'' which was seen in a Connecticut regional theater last year but has not had a New York production or, for that matter, a London one. Mr. Gray is no stranger to success on these shores. His plays ''Butley'' and ''Otherwise Engaged'' have been acknowledged as major works. Indeed, ''Otherwise Engaged'' is a major, major one. ''Molly'' and ''Quartermaine's Terms'' are not far behind. ''Stage Struck,'' however, is not so much stage-struck as stuck. Filled with hanging dummies, gunshots with bullets (blank and real), blades pulled out at the drop of a gun and, of course, at least a soupcon of blood, it also has too many dead spots to be an enticing example of the genre. Mr. Gray has written it carelessly. Attempted wordplays fall flat, the title's double-edged significance is as blunted as those stage blades and Mr. Gray's witticisms are all too often contradicted. Also, blackout scenes end with a thud and curtain lines are inept. A successful actress suspects that her husband, a mere stage manager, is only out for her money. Conspiracies abound, crimes are staged and victims are ''struck.'' Who's out to kill whom? Who cares? Staged for what it is worth by Peter Loewy, the Metuchen production is blessed by the presence of the attractive Meg Bussert. She is a well-known musical actress, and one of the best ones around, in the New York theater. This viewer has never seen Miss Bussert in a ''straight'' role, although she has done them mostly in stock productions. Although subjected to emitting a couple of screams ineffectually contrived by the playwright, Miss Bussert makes a neat transition from her customary forte as the temperamental, yet blase, prima donna of the piece. She conveys a real love and an obsession for acting. William Mooney, as her presumably debonair husband, is unconvincingly debonair, and that ought to be a flashy star part. Yet, Hal Davis (neighbor? lover? friend? betrayer?) and Forrest Compton (lay therapist? private detective?) are just fine. But neither they, nor Miss Bussert, can save ''Stage Struck.'' What should have been an evening of fun and gory games is a dud. MILLBURN For the Paper Mill Playhouse, the farce ''The Foreigner'' is filler. What is most newsworthy about it is that the play, a ''sleeper'' if ever there was one, is still running at the Astor Place Theater in Manhattan, where it opened Nov. 1, 1984, to notices that can charitably be called mixed. (Originally, it was produced by the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.) In Millburn, where it is scheduled to run through March 23, ''The Foreigner'' is playing in a house inappropriately cavernous. However, the Paper Mill's technical effects are, as usual, first rate. (The Paper Mill has 1,192 seats; the