A queenly confrontation

What better environment for examining confusions of gender roles and identity than the Elizabethan theater of William Shakespeare’s time? On the throne sat a queen who maintained her power by suppressing her feminine nature; on the stage, males played all the women’s roles.

Uniting these extremes literally -- and literately -- in a fictional context, the late Canadian author Timothy Findley’s historical drama, “Elizabeth Rex” posits a charged encounter between Queen Elizabeth and an effeminate actor in Shakespeare’s troupe. Infusing their argument with passion and urgency, an impressive staging by Robert Mammana for Open at the Top at the NoHo Arts Center meets consistently high standards, from quality performances to Dana Moran Williams’ stunningly detailed set and A. Jeffrey Schoenberg’s period costumes.

Karesa McElheny’s Elizabeth I is thoroughly convincing as the imperious monarch who “killed the woman in my heart that England might survive”; David H. Ferguson brings pathos to actor Ned Lowenscroft, whose skill playing women came with an analogous sacrifice of his masculine identity.

The unusual breach of social barriers that engenders their explorations of each other’s troubled psyches is the impending execution of the queen’s former lover, the Earl of Essex. Elizabeth seeks distraction in Shakespeare’s barn, where his players are confined until dawn by curfew laws. Further raising the emotional stakes, Ned is dying of smallpox.

Jay Willick’s sage Shakespeare and Melanie Ewbank’s comical washerwoman top the nicely differentiated supporting characters.

Though polarized by class, politics, and values, Elizabeth and Ned achieve touching rapport, though only partial success in their efforts to “make in us new and worthy hearts” -- they can achieve insight, but their actions are already written by history.

“Elizabeth Rex,” NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Ends June 25. $20-25. (818) 508-7101, Ext. 5. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.