THEATER REVIEW:Noteworthy acting

Mrs. K. once gave piano lessons in her living room to a number of young people who since have grown up and moved on. Now, widowed and approaching the final chapter in her life, she feels the urge to reconnect with some of her former students.

The title character of Julia Cho’s “The Piano Teacher,” now enjoying an impressive world premiere at South Coast Repertory, may be alone, but she’s hardly lonely. Not with an audience to share her cookies with, which she does early in the play, severing the mythical fourth wall.

Audiences are meant to be lulled by this friendly, slightly dotty old soul, the more to be startled in the play’s second act when Cho and director Kate Whoriskey turn up the emotional heat and actress Linda Gehringer pilots this seemingly quaint exercise into uncharted waters.

Gehringer, who’s performed in several South Coast productions over the years, has never been in better form than in the guise of this amicable, aging lady who’s unwilling, or unable, to accept her former students’ versions of what transpired long ago in her kitchen with her husband while they waited for their lessons.

It’s not what you might think, though it is almost equally as frightening. Mr. K. was a survivor of military atrocities in an unnamed eastern European country in which children were recruited at gunpoint into their nation’s military. This is hardly “spoiler” information, since the theater devotes a page of its program to such horrific activities.

Gehringer wholly embodies her character, down to the old lady’s limited mobility and fogginess of memory. It is an extraordinary performance, one of the most completely realized portrayals to be offered on the repertory’s stage.

As the former students who contact her, Toi Perkins glows as a contented housewife and mother, reluctant to stir up unpleasant memories, while Kevin Carroll morphs from a shy, taciturn visitor to a crazed specter of foreboding disaster as he recounts his experiences as a young piano prodigy.

The piano parlor, which clearly has seen better days, is beautifully reproduced by scenic designer Myung Hee Cho, who also created the fine costumes. Jason Lyons’ lighting effects make the home’s kitchen a virtual fourth character.

Director Whoriskey, who often seems more at home with epic theater, beautifully forms this very personal story into a heart-touching exercise. Playwright Cho has given her story no definite time or place, suggesting accurately that it represents a universal experience.

“The Piano Teacher” is South Coast Repertory’s 100th world premiere over four decades of productions, and it certainly merits that honor. And as its title character, Linda Gehringer imprints her performance on the playgoer’s heart.

IF YOU GO“The Piano Teacher”

WHAT:

WHERE: South Coast Repertory, Julianne Argyros Stage, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

WHEN: At 7:45 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and 2 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays until April 1

COST: $20 to $42

CALL: (714) 708-5555 or www.scr.org