On Theater:

George is a master linguist, a chronicler of dead or dying languages. But place him in a situation marked by societal pressure and he becomes tongue tied.

This is the premise for Julia Cho’s new dramatic comedy “The Language Archive,” enjoying its world premiere at South Coast Repertory. And it’s a premise that drifts so far afield that even the most competent of casts — such as the one SCR has assembled — is hard-pressed to decipher it.

There are, to be sure, some memorable moments in director Mark Brokaw’s visually impressive production, which benefits enormously from Steven Cahill’s pulsating sound design. But Cho has scattered her shot so wildly that these moments are matched by segments that miss the mark entirely.

The setting, in an unspecified time and place, is a huge research laboratory stocked floor to ceiling with books, presumably on various languages and dialects (an imposing setting by Neil Patel).

Here, George (Leo Marks) toils to master not only foreign tongues in use today but also those already dead or on their way out.

He can say just about anything to anyone in any language, but declaring his love for his wife (Betsy Brandt) is another matter entirely. He’s so verbally impotent on that score that she’s moving on to become an impromptu bakery shop owner.

At work, the shoe is on the other foot. George’s young assistant (Laura Heisler) has a mad crush on her boss, but lacks the courage to tell him so. Besides, he’s too preoccupied with the last two speakers of a dying language to dabble romantically.

These denizens of an unnamed country who speak Elloway — Linda Gehringer and Tony Amendola — effectively walk off with the show, both in their primary characterizations as a squabbling married couple and in about a half-dozen others each, as they dart on and off stage as taxi driver, language professor, whatever the occasions demands.

When these two accomplished actors are present, it’s hard to fault Cho’s circuitous plotting. They excel at verbal warfare, which masks a genuine affection. Their vast experience on stage (much of Gehringer’s at SCR where she’s performed in a half-dozen world premieres) serves them well in their various guises.

Unfortunately, these elders’ expertise renders the central characters a fairly pedestrian lot. As competent as Marks and Brandt are, Cho has deemed their stage personas necessarily dull, though Brandt scores early on as a frustrated picture of exposed nerve endings.

Heisler, however, brightens the picture considerably with her passionate attitude.

Her crush on Marks’ character — and his blissful unawareness of it — could be further developed into a major plot consideration should Cho jettison some of the attendant silliness.

In the end, “The Language Archive” attempts to function on so many levels that it never really scores on one.

A playgoer with a sense of irony might even say that Cho is guilty of failing to communicate.

If You Go

What: “The Language Archive”

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

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays until April 25.

Cost: $28 to $65

Call: (714) 708-5555

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