Bogged down by devices

Well is playwright/monologist Lisa Kron’s exploration of health, hospitals, healing and hope. Kron takes on interesting topics and explores them in a unique way by breaking down the fourth wall and having her autobiographical main character address the audience and other actors throughout the play. She calls the various dramatic tweaks “theatrical devices,” which work sometimes, but overwhelmingly take precedence over the storytelling to the detriment of the play. You know exactly what the main emphasis is when “Lisa,” played by B Street regular Elisabeth Nunziato, explains that it’s “not about my mother and me.” It is, of course. The unreliable narrator examines a mother with mysterious lifelong illnesses and a daughter with her own health problems who is caught between skepticism and empathy. The cast, including an impressive Polly Adams as the mother, tries their best, but is bogged down by both the material and the execution.

Well, 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday and 2 p.m. Thursday; $18-$30. B Street Theatre, 2711 B Street; (916) 443-5300; www.bstreettheatre.org. Through December 4.