‘Nobody Knows’ the Trouble She’s Seen

Eccentricity is developed in utero. At least, that appears to be an operative premise in “And Where She Stops Nobody Knows,” now at the Fremont Centre Theatre. The late Oliver Hailey’s two-person play, which charts one flamboyant woman’s progress from cradle to grave, is a fluffy but surprisingly poignant entertainment. However, under the direction of Norman Cohen, the production is unnecessarily reduced to glorified readers’ theater.

“She” (Lissa Layng), the eccentric in question, looks for love in all the bizarre places. The men She meets are portrayed by the versatile James Reynolds, whose roles range from the Almighty to an Oxford-educated cannibal.

Orphaned at a tender age, She is adopted by a wealthy Chicago meatpacking family. A disastrous stint in a Swiss finishing school leads to incarceration in a posh mental institution, during which She becomes pregnant by a fellow inmate. After placing her baby up for adoption, She is shipwrecked among cannibals. But She survives this and sundry other adventures with typical panache.

There’s never a dull moment in this tongue-in-cheek fable, a sort of “Pilgrim’s Progress” for hedonists. Husband-and-wife team Reynolds and Layng are thoroughly charming in their lightweight but demanding roles. But why, in his otherwise impeccable staging, does Cohen opt to have such obviously capable performers retain their scripts on stage? Despite a lengthy program note explaining his reasons, Cohen’s choice is a misfire. Why he did it, nobody knows.

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* “And Where She Stops Nobody Knows,” Fremont Centre Theatre, 1000 Fremont Ave., South Pasadena. Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends Feb. 14. Dark Dec. 14-Jan. 15. $15. (626) 441-5977. Running time: 2 hours.