THEATER

The Artistic Home is certainly daring and ambitious to dredge up Inge’s Natural Affection. It easily fascinates early on with its dramatic set up and feels right at home in the theater’s cozy storefront space ( the generous amounts of Chicago-area name-dropping also helps ) .

But Natural Affection comes off as a disappointment. The problematic script calls for the characters to unbelievably turn their emotions on a dime. And when the cast does just that, it comes out in such a loud ( and unconvincing ) screech that you question why the Artistic Home even deigned to lavish any attention on this histrionic muddle.

Don’t fault the actors for trying. When not in emotional duress-mode, the cast is quite enjoyable. Mike Carroll comes off best as the boyfriend Bernie with his thick Chicago accent and contempt at making less money than his girlfriend. Kathy Scambiatterra and Peter Fitzsimmons have some uncomfortable moments of mother-son incestuous tension, while Mark Dillon has fun being the drunk questioning his sexuality.

Under John Mossman’s direction, Natural Affection certainly received a handsome production at the Artistic Home. Kurt Boetcher’s aspirant working-class apartment is cozy and detailed ( the spinning aluminum Christmas tree is a great piece of camp ) . Lighting designer Molly Neylan frames the drama nicely around the characters, who are all done up nicely in Elizabeth Ann McKnight’s period costumes.