My first reaction to the Bruka Theatre of the Sierra's really quite marvelous - but dark - production of "King Lear," was that the soon-to-be awfully unlucky Gloucester wasn't the only character on the premises who couldn't see. Updated to 1999, but with a twist - according to the program notes "an unspecified apocalypse has reduced our planet to the primitive condition imagined in the original" - "Lear," dark or light, is definitely not sitcom fodder.

Director Dave Anderson has tapped into the earth's damnation with a vengeance. The play's set is little more than a scattering of debris from hither and yon, with a raised bit of ruin - and what often doubles as a funeral bier - at center stage. ("Lear" is played in the round). The door, then, is wide open for the most imaginative of costuming (not Edith Head, but Twin City Surplus). Scroungy is the word that most quickly comes to mind. Although outlandishly Wagnerian in a trashy kind of way a la the with-it creativity of Seattle Opera, is yet another way of describing the production's look.

Whatever... The darkness, the messy but oddly stylish set, and those wild clothes and knotted hairdos (bad hair days all around) free the production from technical hang-ups and zero in on "the play's the thing," turning Shakespeare's savage family tragedy into an astonishingly successful event. Not a perfect event, but nonetheless a deeply felt theatrical presentation of one of the world's most challenging plays that's fascinating in its near religious doggedness to Shakespeare's cynical intentions.

Talk about a dysfunctional group. Talk about a play - shortened here (just under three hours) - that provides one nasty jolt after another. But that's part of the thrill of it. It's exciting to be in a theater whose central objective is to create a compelling work of art. Anderson has staged a clear and honest production, which falls short of the play's requisite thunder and fury, but which triumphs with more than a few remarkably fine performances and a shadowy production that flows quickly from one cliff-hanging scene to another.

Displaying restrained passion and rage, Dave Beck gives an assured performance as the betrayed monarch sliding into madness. He evokes sympathy as Lear is buttered-up, then deserted by his deceitfully vicious daughters. Beck's Lear isn't of the bullying kind. It's carefully calculated, eroded by the ravages of time and poisoned by the sinister forces that surround him. The results are poignant and penetrating.

In this production, Lear's warmest feelings are reserved for his Fool-servant. In Marcella Sciotto's nicely modulated performance, those feelings are touchingly reciprocated. In the role of the kindly and gullible Gloucester, Tom Plunkett is noble and commanding. He makes the earl an affecting figure and the gouging out of his eyes a squeamish, dreadfully horrifying moment.

The king's two villainous daughters are brought off with searing malevolence by Heather Edmiston (Regan) and Amy Grinder (Goneril). Bob Grimm's angry-to-the-core Edmund and MIchael Grimm's duped and sad-about-things Edgar, he's driven to roaming the stormy moor in less than skimpy rags, are both excellent portrayals. Also good are Scott Dundas as the loyal Kent, Lewis Zaumeyer as the malicious Cornwall and MIchael Maupin as the vengeful Albany. The entire cast, in fact, ranges from solidly competent to remarkably fine.

"King Lear" is a major artistic challenge for any company, if only to protect the integrity of one of the world's most revered classics. As it's being seen here, "King Lear" more than meets that challenge. This Bruka Theatre presentation, made up of professionals who only rarely get paid, is an act of love that's paying off handsomely. "King Lear" is compelling, powerful theater.

"King Lear" can be seen at the Bruka Theatre of the Sierra, 99 North Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through June 26. For information call 775 323 3221.