On Theater:

It takes Saturn nearly three decades to complete its orbit of the sun. On its return, astrologers claim, the planet exerts the most impact.

Noah Haidle’s third play to be produced at South Coast Repertory is titled “Saturn Returns,” and if you were moved by his first two — “Mr. Marmalade” and “Princess Marjorie” — you’ll be absolutely devastated by this one, which delivers a shattering emotional impact of its own.

Haidle’s principle character is portrayed at three phases of his life — 30 years apart at 28, 58 and 88 — with three different actors assuming this role, along with one actress representing the significant women in his life at each stage. It’s brief (80 minutes, without intermission) and occasionally very funny, but it’s still on a collision course with the heart.

Under the sensitive directorial hand of David Emmes, whose heart and soul have been linked to South Coast Repertory since he and Martin Benson founded the company in the mid-1960s, “Saturn Returns” is a brilliant, highly involving piece of theater, one that ranks with “Collected Stories” as the year’s most involving repertory projects.

We first encounter Gustin at 88, in the person of Nick Ullett, as a crotchety but still sensitive old man being comforted by a paid caretaker, Kristen Bush, who realizes that the old man doesn’t need care, only company. He’s lost both his wife and his daughter over the years, and he’s on the knife-edge of heartbreak.

As Ullett leaves the stage, he’s replaced by Conor O’Farrell as Gustin, 58, who’s also strongly dependent on his daughter (Bush again), who, now pushing 30, longs to break free and start her own life. To accelerate this process, she helps him find blind dates — most of whom are unsatisfactory for one reason or another.

Finally, there’s the 28-year-old Gustin (Graham Michael Hamilton), newly married and deliriously happy, with Bush assuming a third characterization of his kittenish wife. This segment is the least dramatic, but probably the most touching, since we’re already aware of Gustin’s unhappy future.

Haidle packs a ton of dramatic impact into less than 90 minutes of theater, and Emmes’ production beautifully details the three stages of its protagonist’s life in the same Grand Rapids, Mich., house, strikingly designed by Ralph Funicello.

Lighting designer Lonnie Rafael Alcarez subtly shifts the phases of illumination from bright for the youngest Gustin to dim for his middle-aged incarnation to dull for the old man. Bush skillfully moves in and out of her three characters with rapid costume and wig changes.

“Saturn Returns” marks a significant maturity for Haidle, whose previous two repertory offerings were delivered from more juvenile viewpoints. Rather than being dependent on gimmicks to rattle the senses, Haidle thrusts a dramatic dagger into the heart with this superbly created and staged exercise.

If You Go

What: “Saturn Returns”

Where: South Coast Repertory, Segerstrom Stage, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

When: 7:30 or 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays until Nov. 22.

Cost: $28 to $65

Call: (714) 708-5555

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear Fridays.