STAGE REVIEW : An Explosion of Honesty : ‘To Tell the Truth’ is like an episode of ‘Family’ that has gone over the edge.

When the Chamber Theatre curtain rises to reveal Lance Zeck’s set for Gregory Webb’s drama, “To Tell the Truth,” we instantly know where we’re headed. Everything in this suburban kitchen is in its place. The floors and sink are scrubbed shiny--the domestic bliss emphasized by Easter baskets. The hunch is that this is going to be about the twisted souls under the Better Homes and Gardens perfection.

Webb pays off on the hunch just as perfectly, which is one of many problems with his play. This Easter sees the entire Hawkins family together, but it’s an accidental reunion. Son Brad (Webb), for instance, has just popped into Memphis from Los Angeles for a wellness conference and thought he’d drop by. Daughter Monica (Dawn Hopper) tries to make herself scarce--mostly because Mom and Dad (Charles Bartlett and Glenda Tremaine) disapprove of her lesbian lifestyle. Monica’s other sisters, Colleen (Kathy Grable) and Peggy (Leanne Griffin), are more mainstream--but Colleen is about to give birth and she thinks she wants to put the baby up for adoption, and Peggy is ready to leave her husband.

The soapsuds pile up, as the parents are unable . . . to tell the truth. What distinguishes the sick family from the healthy one, the play announces as if it were news, is its inability to be honest.

Tremaine’s mom is from the WASP school that believes if you can’t say something nice, keep quiet. Bartlett’s dad, on the other pole, is never quiet, almost gleefully baiting Brad on his opposition to the Gulf War, just concluded as the play begins. Brad is at yet another pole, reading out loud from Buckminster Fuller just as cartoonishly as Bartlett sings a patriotic Lee Greenwood tune.

This only hints at the crude setups and cruder flash points. After staying within the well-worn boundaries of the Middle Class Domestic Drama, Webb and director Jackie Cowgill suddenly opt for arch excess with an explosion of truth-telling, bloodletting and birthing all at the same moment. It’s as if an episode of “Family” had suddenly gone over the edge into an episode of “Fawlty Towers.”

Even more unlikely is the unearned, peaceable calm that follows. Webb plays a guy who’s very good at massages, but as a playwright, he’s also massaging our expectations. In a bizarre betrayal of his own thesis, the Hawkinses never come to full terms with each other, yet end up happily.

The real truth here comes in the silent moments the actors share between the words--Webb and Bartlett, for instance, fidgeting when they’re alone at the breakfast table, or Tremaine quietly breaking down. There’s value in “To Tell the Truth,” but it seems to be between the lines.

WHERE AND WHEN

Location: “To Tell the Truth.” Chamber Theatre, 3759 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Studio City.

Hours: 8 p.m. Sundays, 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; ends Aug. 30. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes. Price: $12.50 to $15. Call: (310) 472-1515 or (310) 472-0525.