Steel Beam's 'Not That Good' could be better

Daytime Emmy Award-winning writer Richard Culliton concocts a fun anecdote to explain why his new extended family comedy is called "When Not That Good Will Do." But at times, the title seems to invite snarky judgments on Steel Beam Theatre's world premiere production in St. Charles.

"When Not That Good Will Do" has its laughs and flashes of drama, but it falters in parts because of so-so staging and some performances.

Director Bernie Weiler starts things off on the wrong foot when the lights come up on designer Pete Steele's stifling Cape Cod beach house set. There we see the heavily pregnant and injured lawyer Beth Scanlon (Pamela Gianakakos) seated with her laptop while her agoraphobic mother-in-law, Sally (Cheryl Rice), scampers about cleaning.

The two women don't converse, nor do they get to listen in to what the audience hears: an offstage voice-over of great-grandmother "Nanna" Scanlon (Patricia Rataj) laying into her husband for all of his bad decisions as they inch through traffic.

Nanna's nagging rant is hilarious, as is Rataj subsequently playing up her alcoholic character's sarcasm in person. But the recorded monologue is a confusing opener. Director Weiler should have wheeled in Rataj in a car seat set piece to deliver her harangue live, or Culliton could have come up with an accidental butt-dialing cellphone scenario so Sally and Beth could eavesdrop along with the audience.

Things fall more satisfactorily into place as we get to know the central sparring characters of Beth and her black-sheep brother-in-law Tim (Justin Schaller).

Gianakakos does a solid job of getting across Beth's physical discomfort and emotional aggravation, which is heightened because of the beach house's lack of air conditioning during an oppressive heat wave. Beth is also upset because her lawyer husband, Mike (Tony Lage), is suspiciously absent.

Rather than accommodating Beth, Tim goads her about the conservative compromises she's made with her life. By comparison, Tim is proud of not living up to his wealthy parents' expectations, and Schaller does a great job with his free-spirited and contrary character.

Save for Samantha Waldron's precocious take on the spoiled and acting-obsessed great-grandchild Mary Ann Scanlon-Ginsberg, other cast members don't get across the necessary New England privilege of their moneyed characters. As the Scanlon family patriarch Earl, Pat Able isn't patrician enough. You also wish he and Rice made more of Sally's revelations of long-standing manipulation.

Still, there's pleasure to be had from watching Culliton's extended family members bicker and prod each other into a better understanding about themselves. His bitter comedy revels in showing how some people squirm at forced family get-togethers, but it also offers up rays of hope despite a litany of familial disappointments and deceits.