'View': Limited Horizon

So if, in a sense, we are all making ourselves up as we go along, how can we trust that we've gleaned the truth about anyone else?

The playwright Daniel MacIvor asks us to ruminate on the mysteries of what we permit the rest of the world to see in "A Beautiful View," a sedate little play about the furtive romance of two women and their resistance to defining what they mean to each other.

The piece, running barely more than an hour, is directed with minimal fuss by the Canadian playwright for Studio Theatre's 2ndStage. In restrained performances, Kathleen Coons and Jennifer Mendenhall narrate the tale of their adrift characters' push-me, pull-you, on-again, off-again affair, one whose centrifugal power remains -- as in so many relationships -- beyond an outsider's grasp.

A writer's consciousness imposes itself far more emphatically in Studio's raw fourth-floor space than do the personas of either Mendenhall's Lane, a restaurant hostess who passes herself off as a bartender, or Coons's Max, who claims to be in a band. "At least we've established that we're both liars," Lane says at one point to Max, after each has let down her guard and confessed to a slight case of pumping up her credentials.

Over the next hour, the women will trace the missed signals, the betrayals and the communication blackouts in what may or may not have been the most vital affair of their lives. Still, the matter-of-fact evocation here results in an evening of less consequence than was intended. When, for example, Coons's nonchalant Max reports that a friend "thinks I have lots of personality," we are placed too heavily at odds with the declaration, for Coons internalizes the portrayal of Max to the point of neutralizing any quality that would allow us to see what might have drawn Lane to her. (If demonstrative self-delusion is the intention, it does not come across as irony.)

The protean Mendenhall flashes us a mischievous grin from time to time, as she executes some of the playwright's meta-theatrics. But the muted essence of Max and Lane's relationship, rather than provoking curiosity, discourages us from wanting to further explore the architecture of their relationship -- or the playwright's interesting conceits.

A Beckettesque bare stage, enhanced with only the occasional prop, is crisply lighted by John Burkland, giving "A Beautiful View" the feel of something clear-headed, uncluttered. Coons and Mendenhall attempt to peel away any sense of artifice, and occasionally, MacIvor's deadpan humor is invigorated. But even in some circumstances when simplicity is admirably ordered up, the presentation can come across as a little too parched.

A Beautiful View, written and directed by Daniel MacIvor. Set, Luciana Stecconi; costumes, Brandee Mathies; sound, Michael Laird. About 70 minutes. Through Nov. 2 at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. Call 202-332-3300 or visit http://www.studiotheatre.org.