One thing audience members can expect from Harlequin Productions is that its plays will be a journey of some sort. The Olympia theater’s current travel log takes the audience to the town of Gloucester, Mass. The town is dead as the fishing industry has long fallen into the sea, and the fishermen who remain just show up at the union hall to get their unemployment checks signed so they can return to their workless lives.



This West Coast premiere of Israel Horovitz’s Sins of the Mother is a subtly dark comedy that centers on the fact that Douggie Shimmatarro (played by Zachariah Robinson) has returned to his hometown in search of work after escaping to the outside world 10 years ago. His family ties to the area create a less-than-pleasant welcome home at the former fish processing employment hall.



His mother was at the center of a rash of drug addictions and AIDS cases in the town, and the return of her son brings all those long-simmering bad feelings crashing to the present day.



What drives this show is the solid acting leveled by the balance of the cast. Robinson, David Nail, Brian Claudio Smith, and Scott C. Brown seem to not be just acting on a stage, but they transform themselves into townie fishermen. They landed such believable characters that I could almost smell the fish stink from their clothes.



This is one of those subtle shows that can’t be passively watched. It has to be filleted and dissected to be fully enjoyed and appreciated. The show has some quirky funny parts that are more stress relief from tense scenes than great one-liners, but the mix of emotions that span the show create a buffet of great theater moments.



The whole show is presented in a simple set that quickly jumps from the union hall to a funeral home as the show takes an interesting twist that is best left alone in a review for people thinking about watching the show. Suffice it to say that the show gets interesting in the final minutes.



[State Theater, Sins of the Mother, through Feb. 14, 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $24-$33, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.786.0151, www.harlequinproductions.org]