THEATER REVIEW / ‘THE ROSE TATTOO’ : Unlikely Comedy : The production taps the rich vein of warmth, compassion and laughter born of sorrow in Tennessee Williams’ play.

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A captivated audience laughing uproariously at poignantly funny performances by Gloria Rossi and George Menedes, who play the unlikely romantic couple in Tennessee Williams’ comedy, “The Rose Tattoo.”

Wait a minute, you think: a comedy by Tennessee Williams? The brooding playwright who penned dark reflections about dysfunctional households in such plays as “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”?

Yep. Incongruous as it might seem, Williams did write this play with considerable humor and--gasp--a happy ending! This might also come as news to anyone who saw the relentlessly dour film version starring Burt Lancaster and Anna Magnani, in which Williams’ myth overshadowed his text.

But in this Ensemble Theatre Company production, director Robert G. Weiss has tapped the rich vein of warmth, compassion, and laughter born of sorrow in Williams’ play, set among a ramshackle community of hot-tempered Sicilian immigrants on the Gulf Coast in the early 1950s.

The most hot-tempered of all is Serafina Della Rosa (Rossi), a passionate woman who, in the second scene, learns of her husband’s tragic death. As time passes, her inconsolable grief transforms her from a voluptuous extrovert into a haggard, mournful specter who rarely strays far from her household altar, where she keeps her husband’s ashes.

Hardly a side-splitting opener. Still, in the face of these hard times, Serafina shows a spunky undercurrent in her quick retorts to annoying neighbors who keep prying into her life.

Things take a more amusing turn when she meets a lonely truck driver, Alvaro (Menedes), who evokes the passion she has reserved for the memory of her dead spouse.

Watching the faltering dance of romance between these two is sheer delight: Serafina’s insistence on maintaining her image of respectability in the neighborhood plays beautifully against Alvaro’s awkward but determined attempts at seduction.

Complicating matters is Serafina’a teen-age daughter, Rosa (Jeanne Sapienza), who falls in love with the only sailor in the Navy who would actually respect the girl’s innocence. Their well-performed romance is fraught with sweet and sentimental heartache, an unrestrained echo of the wounded romantic in Williams, customarily the hard-bitten realist.

Many of the 14 members of the supporting cast are drawn from less professional ranks, but they rarely miss their marks. Some of the more seasoned standouts are Ed Grat as the benevolent priest, and Kimberly Hyde as the mysterious “other woman” to Serafina’s late husband.

The lush set design by Robert L. Smith compactly fits Serafina’s house and part of the surrounding town onto the small Ensemble stage.

If you can get past the incongruity of Williams’ seldom seen comic side, there’s plenty to smile at in this one.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“The Rose Tattoo” will be performed at the Alhecama Theatre, 914 Santa Barbara St., Santa Barbara, through Nov. 15, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sunday 7 p.m., and Sunday matinee at 2 on Nov. 15. Tickets are $12 Wednesdays and Sundays, $14 Thursdays and $16 on Fridays and Saturdays. Running time is 2 1/2 hours. For reservations and information, call 962-8606