THEATER REVIEW:

Watching “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing,” South Coast Repertory’s latest project in its Theater for Young Audiences program, reinforced my eternal gratitude that I grew up an only child.

Sibling rivalry, and its often-disastrous consequences, is the focus of Bruce Mason’s stage adaptation of the popular book by noted children’s author Judy Blume. In this case, it’s a fourth-grader whose younger brother is a graphic definition of what child psychologists refer to as the “terrible twos.”

It seems little Fudge — he prefers this tasty name to his given one, Farley — can’t stay out of trouble, won’t eat, refuses to obey his parents and constitutes a general pain in the posterior of his older brother, Peter, who finds grade school tough enough without putting up with this incorrigible pest. Especially when Fudge swallows Peter’s pet turtle.

Of course, getting an actual 2-year-old to perform on stage would be problematical, so the repertory and director Jessica Kubzansky swing in the other direction — the part of the toddler is enacted by a bald, middle-age, plus-size actor who proceeds to take command of the stage.

This would be Daniel T. Parker, an actor steeped in Shakespearean roles who obviously enjoys turning his interpretive talents around 180 degrees to portray the bratty Fudge. Parker’s superlative performance is the driving force of this clever comedy.

As his older brother, Daniel Chaffin seethes delightfully at the actions of his uncontrollable sibling and also serves as the play’s wry narrator. If you imagine another Peter — Billingsly in “A Christmas Story” — you wouldn’t be far off.

Veterans Tom Shelton and Jeanne Sakata enact the kids’ parents (along with a few other roles), who dote on little Fudge to the frustrating exclusion of Peter.

There’s a particularly funny moment, when Shelton attempts to impress his boss with Fudge’s bike-riding acumen, which of course goes totally askew.

Rounding out the cast, in five or six roles each, are Larry Bates and Brenda Canela.

Both display wide-ranging talents in their variety of assignments — particularly as Peter’s classmates attempting to cooperate on a school project.

The show’s multitude of bright, interchangeable settings, along with the creative costumes, are the work of Angela Balogh Calin, while John Zalewski and Jeremy Pivnick handle the sound and lighting duties, respectively.

Concerned that kids may attempt to make life imitate art, South Coast Repertory devotes a page of its program cautioning youngsters against owning — and certainly swallowing — baby turtles, as Fudge does late in the play.

And because the act is not depicted on stage, you wonder how even someone as big as Fudge managed to ingest that sizable reptile.

Fans of the Blume stories will be particularly enhanced by “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing,” which is a series of vignettes centering on the title character but prominently featuring his toddler nemesis. There’s a lot of fun to be had here.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”

WHERE: South Coast Repertory Julianne Argyros Stage, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

WHEN: 7 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 4:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 23.

COST: $20 to $27

CALL: (714) 708-5555

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear Thursdays.