A Spiritual Healing for Hardship Couple

It seems almost too good to be true: a maimed, disfigured soldier and a dowdy spinster who married each other for “mutual consolation” find miraculous healing and happiness under the eaves of “The Enchanted Cottage” at Hollywood’s Crossley Theatre.

And in a way, it is. Addressing the hard psychological truths of a post-World War I Britain desperately in need of healing, Sir Arthur Pinero’s romantic fable abruptly pulls the rug out from its fairy tale setup, revealing the couple’s “recovery” to be the imaginary product of their own wishful thinking. Some traumas can’t be magically undone.

Yet the play also affirms the possibility of a more realistic, and ultimately more important, kind of healing--the power to transform our attitudes about our circumstances and achieve at least a spiritual transcendence over hardship.

Under Mark Henderson’s sensitive direction, this handsome, well-crafted Actors Co-op production recovers the sweetness in Pinero’s play without lapsing into the cloying sentimentality that hovers dangerously close to its surface. The transformation of the scarred, limping veteran and his plain, colorless bride into a beautiful couple blooming with health and vitality is a credit to the versatility of Tom MacMaster and Amy Landers, respectively (with help from Ritamarie Beeman’s skillful makeup effects). Julietta Marcelli also impresses as the quasi-mystical housekeeper whose insight takes over when her magical powers fall short.

Robert Pike Daniel provides an impeccably detailed portrait of a blind Major who befriends the newlyweds, though the character’s long-winded exposition around the obvious really dates Pinero’s script, which suffers from some of the mannered conventions of 1920s British melodrama. Instead of diverting attention from these shortcomings with spectacle (though there are some accomplished effects sequences), Actors Co-op keeps them at bay the old-fashioned way--with strong performances and commitment to the fable’s simple, heartfelt truths.

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* “The Enchanted Cottage,” Crossley Theatre, 1760 N. Gower St., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends June 7. $15. (213) 462-8460 or (213) 964-3586. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.