THEATER REVIEW : Fantasies Fly in ‘Flipside’ : A harried housewife becomes her alter ego in nutty dreams. But despite great ‘thea-tricks,’ the play lacks substance.

Sharon Burke’s new comedy, “Flipside,” at the Lionstar Theatre, submits for our consideration one Sarah, a housewife working way too hard.

But the old adage “Work hard, play hard” is turned on its ear in this case. In “Flipside,” it’s “Work hard, dream hard.” And the dreams end up being more real than Sarah’s partly mundane, partly stressful workday.

In the end, Burke also works way too hard to pack as many nutty dreams as possible into what is really a slender package. Sarah may be a bit unglued, but the play becomes even more detached from its subject.

The spirit is a heady combo of “Diary of a Mad Housewife,” director Frank Tashlin’s comedies, a touch of playwright Joe Orton and a bit of Christopher Durang’s domestic satire “Baby With the Bathwater.”

Actually, those are very good influences, which Burke and director Vivian Luther toss together for a kind of mixed comedic salad. Alas, the key ingredient--Sarah--tends to get lost in the mix.

That’s not surprising, since she is the least interesting member of her family circle. Husband John (Rick Burke) is an overworked breadwinner who somehow wins enough to support Sarah and their two kids (the elder we never see; the younger is a large baby doll, a la Durang). Sister Kim (Diana Carpenter) is an overactive, aerobicized woman with an on-and-off relationship. Out-of-town parents Barbara (Loraine Shields) and Ed (Tony Weinert) blow in for a visit hours earlier than Sarah expected, refusing to stay in the hotel she reserved for them.

This is Excedrin headache No. 512 for Sarah, who can’t even figure out how to pay a credit card bill. Each headache induces a dream-fantasy, sort of Fellini-meets-The Brady Bunch.

One of the funniest is triggered by the bill problem, and in it Sarah becomes Killer Executive, inflicting corporate terror. Buddy Farmer appears here in the first of three terrifically funny guises.

Later, Sarah dreams herself inside the “Oprah”-like “Jesse Show” she’s watching on TV, debating and then kick boxing Jesse’s househusband panelists.

Later still, Sarah imagines John as Elvis Presley the Cable Repairman--allowing Burke to do everything from a cool impersonation to stripping down to his leather G-string.

By the time Sarah imagines that her older son has been kidnaped after preschool by neighbor June (versatile Susan Shearer), it’s time for us to wonder what Sarah is all about.

Though an implicit joke is that she is outwardly normal and collected, her imaginings overwhelm any perception we may have of Sarah herself. It becomes impossible to fully link the housewife with her fantasy-nightmare life, especially since the imaginings don’t seem to take Sarah anywhere as a character. Imagination can be a catalyst for change, but that process seems to bypass this woman.

If you’re willing to put all of those problems aside, “Flipside” is simply a wonderfully nutty exercise in “thea-tricks.”

Led by Farmer and Shearer, this is an ensemble with energy to burn, with the kind of relish in caricatures found in the best Groundlings companies.

In fact, “Flipside” deconstructs into a string of sketch scenes that director Luther, in Groundlings tradition, stretches to the comic breaking point. She’s considerably assisted by Scott Brotherton (set), Kosh (lights) and Richard Zaynor (costumes), but what she can’t do is turn this script into more than what it is. And unlike a dream, “Flipside” doesn’t stand up to further examination.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

WHERE AND WHEN:

What: “Flipside.”

Location: Lionstar Theatre, 12655 Ventura Blvd., Studio City.

Hours: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Ends Feb. 25

Price: $10.

Call: (310) 657-4556.