Traveling Carnival Freakshow

This astonishingly inept production resembles nothing so much as a high school stunt night. It's billed as an amalgam of dance, play, burlesque, and cabaret. But it's not much of a play, some of the dancers are seriously earthbound, there's little in the way of cabaret, and on opening night the burlesque performer was a no-show.

The tale, by actor Questa Gleason and director Chelsea Sutton, concerns a traveling freak show (though it's a bit short of freaks) headed by the evil Ren (assistant choreographer Danielle Cintron), who is possessed of "sorcerous powers": She carries a hunting knife in her stocking (when it isn't falling out), but she can fell her opponents by merely thrusting her fingers in their direction. She has turned a pleasant young woman named Zada (Gleason) into a monstrous creature: part puppet, part human, and part machine, though we never learn how this was accomplished. The company also includes gypsy fortune-teller Wilhelmina (Beth Ricketson), who talks about the magic of Christmas when she isn't making dire predictions. Zada's caregiver and sidekick Chloe (Erin Treanor) dithers and repairs Zada's mechanical breakdowns. Also in the troupe are Carlo (choreographer Mason Hallberg) and a young woman listed only as Freak (Sahar Yousefi), though there's nothing freakish about her.

It's Christmas Eve, and Ren has decided to kill Zada, though it's unclear why she should want to bump off the company's only viable attraction. Handsome young interloper Edwin (Jeff Newman) turns up and is instantly smitten with Zada. He, of course, is the hero, as we are repeatedly told. Things get still more incoherent, as Wilhelmina sheds her gypsy costume to become a dancer, and Edwin battles Ren to save Zada, who suddenly and inexplicably becomes a normal girl again. There's a battle royal—part galumphing dance number and part stage combat—before another unexplained magical transformation vanquishes Ren.

Lucila Caro has designed a handsome circus-tent set, Lori Meeker's costumes are colorful, and the actors struggle valiantly to make sense of an impossible script, but this vessel was doomed before it set sail.

Presented by and at the Eclectic Company Theatre, 5312 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Valley Village. Dec. 3–19. Fri.–Sat., 9 p.m.; Sun., 8 p.m. (818) 508-3003. www.eclecticcompanytheatre.org.