On Theater:

The Costa Mesa Playhouse has been nothing if not ambitious this season with noteworthy productions of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “City of Angels.”

Ambition and artistic acumen, however, only can get you so far. There must be a splendid script to work with, and in the case of the playhouse’s current attraction, “Compleat Female Stage Beauty,” that element is somewhat muddled.

Jeffrey Hatcher’s dramatization of England’s shift of theatrical law in the 1660s — decreeing that only women may portray their ilk on stage, thereby squelching the careers of men who specialized in the gender-bending art — certainly is an ambitious project, and attacked with gusto by the Costa Mesa company.

It’s the play itself, which is a mixed bag.

With no fewer than 20 scenes and confined to a 17th century English dialect, “Stage Beauty” is not immediately accessible to the average audience. The events portrayed may be quite accurate historically, but only in the play’s last 20 minutes does it really take root dramatically.

The centerpiece is one Edward Kynaston (Alexander Price), an actor who has made his name by playing heroines — in particular, Desdemona in Shakespeare’s “Othello” — for a London company headed by actor-director Thomas Betterton (Mike Brown). When another “Othello” opens across town with a genuine actress (Kathryn Scott) in the role — defying the law of the time — the greasepaint is about to hit the fan, thrusting Kynaston’s career into jeopardy.

When the king (Andrew George), at the urging of his Cockney mistress (Laura Lindahl) rules in favor of the more natural order of performing, Kynaston finds himself in ye olde unemployment line. The balance of the play is concerned with Kynaston’s traumatic downfall and recovery.

The climactic scene, in which Price tutors Scott in the art of playing Desdemona, is superbly done, making the preceding events worth enduring. Price excels as the frustrated artist in a passionate, literate portrayal.

Brown lends strong support as his blunt-spoken friend and acting colleague, while Nakisa Aschtiani nicely underplays the loyal company aide who bolsters the actor’s recovery.

Two fine actresses offer stellar portrayals. Scott renders an aching depiction of the ground-breaking actress striving for perfection, while Lindahl lends much-needed comic relief as the royal concubine. Both are excellent with the material at hand.

Ron Grigsby is a properly foppish Sir Charles Sedley, Christopher Basile slithers through the role of Kynaston’s lover, the duke of Buckingham, while David A. Blair takes it all down as diarist Samuel Pepys.

The multiscene show is backed by an impressive mural from McQuay Printing, while costuming is done by committee and Jon Sparks renders some impressive hairstyles and wigs.

There are some memorable elements of “Compleat Female Stage Beauty,” but these are too few and far between in a cumbersome script, despite some splendid interpretations by a fine and ambitious cast.

If You Go

WHAT: “Compleat Female Stage Beauty”

WHERE: Costa Mesa Playhouse, 611 Hamilton St., Costa Mesa

WHEN: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through June 28

COST: $18 to $20

CALL: (949) 650-5269

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot.