Romulus Linney’s “Love Drunk,” the May-December seeming romance/dark comedy/psychological teaser that’s on through this weekend at None Too Fragile Theater, is confusing – and deliberately so.

The two characters, 25-year old Karen (played by Rachel Roberts) and the 65-year old Wilbur (played by Jim Viront), tell so many fanciful stories that you can’t tell whether they are lying or not. You are not sure exactly how they got together in Wilbur’s mountaintop log cabin. At first it seemed that Wilbur picked up Karen in a nearby pub; later it seems like it may have been Karen engineering the sexual get together.

“Love Drunk,” set at None Too Fragile Theater. Photo by Clint Beeler

When strangers meet and go off together, who knows what’s going to happen? And that is what this play is about. Who knows what will happen? Will they find love in each other’s arms, will they simply use each other, or will they establish some sort of ongoing relationship?

To break the ice, or to con one another, or to simply fill in the emptiness (for Wilbur) or the shiftlessness (for Karen), the couple start telling their stories. Wilbur fesses up to having had sex with a dog, a few men and a plethora of women. Karen talks about beating a man with a tire iron, of being left at and growing up in an orphanage, and bumming on her own by supporting herself as a bartender, when she’s not jumping into bed with anyone who might give her a ride or a place to stay.

Are they trying to weird one another out? The characters certainly seem to do that for the audience.

What starts to become apparent is that the two go on with their daily lives. When that routine doesn’t work, they go looking for more intimate contact. Wilbur, who owns businesses, including the manufacture of log cabins (that have huge towers in the middle of them – which probably is some sexual metaphor), is for the most part content to stay in his remote abode until the urge comes. Then he goes looking.

Much the same might be said for Karen, who drifts along in life. When she gets left high and dry, she too is on the prowl.

Rachel Roberts. Photo from www.vimeo.com

Because of all the shifting of tales, it is hard for the audience to identify or to like either one of the characters. You can’t root for them, because you really don’t know who they are. That makes for a very different play-going experience, and one worth the having.

Good for None Too Fragile for bringing such a baffling drama to the stage.

It’s probably a good idea to say, with much of the dialogue and themes at work in this play, that it is for mature audiences. Karen is bare breasted briefly in one scene.

The actors – Rachel Roberts and Jim Viront – are superb. With just two characters – and the whole point being conversation with each other – it’s a big job they have. They seem perfectly at ease with their lines and the vast range of emotional wrangling their parts call for.

Jim Viront and Rachel Roberts, “Love Drunk” at None Too Fragile Theater. Photo from www.stowsentry.com

“Love Drunk” will have two final performances this weekend at 8 p.m. on Friday-Saturday, March 14-15 at None Too Fragile Theater, 1841 Merriman Rd., Akron; 330-671-4563; www.nonetoofragile.com. Tickets are $20 (or what you can pay).