STAGE REVIEW : A ‘Midsummer Night’s’ Silliness at Highways : Shadow puppets and hot-blooded teens sprout from the Cornerstone Theater Company’s loopy reinvention of Shakespeare’s comedy.

A Theseus foiled by a faulty fuse? A Bottom who plugs into his Titania? Teen-age lovers crazed by their escalating hormones?

Don’t ask, but, yes, that is the Cornerstone Theater Company’s loopy reinvention of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” It opened Thursday at Highways in Santa Monica and never have so many clever ideas run around in such an underdeveloped state.

Mr. Theseus (Benajah Cobb) is a parochial school headmaster and Hippolyta (Conchita Delmar) a teaching nun. A nun . . . ? And Mr. Theseus plans to marry her? Just go with the flow, except that there’s not much flow to go with. For all of the teen-age fire in the blood--and that blood’s boiling over in these young lovers--the production starts and stalls and lurches. Shape? You’re kidding. Rhythm? Get outta here.

And yet . . . something keeps us watching and it’s not just the absence of an intermission. The awfulness is not consistent and often it’s intentional. There is a protective postmodern aura around the show. Much of its inventiveness has merit. Most of its execution does not.

The spirit world of the play is truly a shadow world--a shadow puppet world. But if Oberon, Puck and the changeling are proud shadow puppets of Bali, Titania is a shadow puppet of Barbie, decidedly made by Mattel. So many contradictions, so little sense.

Making uncooperative table lamps out of the “rude mechanicals,” for example, is not one of the company’s better ideas. But it’s pretty funny when the theme music from TV’s “I Dream of Jeannie” strikes up as the wayward lamps come into play. And it’s worth a smile when it turns out that the Bottom lamp believes in safe sex and carries a condom.

Silly stuff that may make Will Shakespeare roll over in his grave, but does not per se invalidate the attempt at something different. What does invalidate it is the absence of follow-through. When you’re going to use shadow puppets, doesn’t it make sense to really learn how to do it?

Thank heaven for the lusty high schoolers. Hermia (Alison Carey) and Helena (Ashby Semple) are real spark plugs, and Lysander (Christopher Moore) and Demetrius (Ernie Davis) are all hormones. These guys willingly subscribe to the notion that, if they can’t be near the girl they love, they’ll make love to the girl they’re near. Pint-sized Hermia insists on her own sleeping bag, but Helena is entirely willing to be Demetrius’ sex foil if it means that he’ll be paying her some attention.

These actors are young enough to remember the agony of puppy love and angry parents, and one of the production’s best scenes is when all four drop their books at each new parental threat or each new sexual revelation (see Mr. Theseus kiss Ms. Hippolyta).

Another of the show’s better aspects is its eclectic musical spine--all of it borrowed for sly and specific effect. It ranges from Guns N’ Roses to be-bop and that “I Dream of Jeannie” theme for the lamps. Be daring: Discover the rest.

Technically, the lighting is complex but the set-up is simple. It involves three multi-use rolling screens. Opaque or transparent, they are cleverly used for the shadow puppets, for other projections, as movable parts of the forest, to choreograph movement, to establish relationships, suggest connections and serve Puck in his administrations of magick.

Smaller jokes surface within the larger ones. You can believe Puck when he says, “If we shadows have offended . . . .” Helena on occasion can sound like Mae West. “Sorrow’s heaviness,” mutters Davis as Demetrius, placing a screen on his back. Davis is not adept at Shakespearean pentameters, but not to worry. Midstream, he switches to a heavy French accent. Eet meks noh sense at ohl, bot hees Shek-speer does sound bettehr zat weh. Funny, but not funny enough. A collection of jokes does not a play make and these wear out their welcome. You’ve got to believe that director Bill Rauch had a pretty good master plan starting out, but that only opens the floodgates to more questions.

This is not a new show for the itinerant Cornerstone company, which is now planning a multi-year residency in Los Angeles. “Midsummer” dates back to 1988 and it’s difficult not to wonder why some of the technical aspects have not been improved, let alone perfected, in the intervening years. Does the company, which makes a mission of working in the community with non-actors, prefer it this way? Is the roughness of the shape part of the intended attraction?

One can more easily accept a primitive look when the company works with non-pros. Not the case here. If Cornerstone is onto something, the question is: What?

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Highways Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. Thursdays-Sundays, 8:30 p.m. Ends Sept 20. $10; (213) 660-8587. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Benajah Cobb: Theseus/Oberon

Conchita Delmar: Hippolyta/Titania

Lynn Jeffries: Philostrate/Puppeteer/Puck

James Hanes: Egeus/Bottom

Alison Carey: Hermia

Ernie Davis: Demetrius

Christopher: Moore Lysander

Ashby Semple: Helena

A Cornerstone Theater Company presentation of an updated version of Shakespeare’s comedy. Producer Stephen Gutwillig. Associate producer Leslie Tamaribuchi. Director Bill Rauch. Sets and puppets Lynn Jeffries. Technical director, lighting operator Benajah Cobb. Costumes Sal Taschetta, Lynn Jeffries. Sound operator Conchita Delmar. Music design David Reiffel.