The Signature Theatre revival of Gurney’s amusing and sometimes poignant investigation of different lives and encounters is presented with style, from scenic designer Andrew Lieberman’s typically ordinary motel on the outskirts of Boston in the late 1970s to Lila Neugebaur’s generally effective direction. An excellent cast provides smooth insights into the character assortment. At times the direction could use more intensity, but Neugebaur is obviously eager to keep matters realistically understated except for moments of obligatory flare-ups.

The folks who check into the motel include an elderly couple, Jessie and Frank, nicely played by Lizbeth MacKay and Jon DeVries, who show the wear and tear of a long marriage, with the husband having heart problems and being crotchety and the wife dissatisfied with where they live. They are there to visit their daughter and grandchildren, with whom Jessie would rather be staying.

In the opposite age bracket are two students, Sally and Phil, played by Ismenia Mendes and David McElwee. Phil is gung ho for sex to see how compatible they are in an audition for a further relationship. Sally resents the idea of such a tryout, but gradually we watch them easing into compatibility and into bed.

Hostility flares between father and son, as the overbearing dad Vince, superbly played by Marc Kudisch, has dragged his reluctant son Mark to meet someone with clout to help get the lad into Harvard, where he has no interest in going. Will Pullen as the beleaguered youth makes us feel for him, even to the point of concern as to whether he might become suicidal under the intense pressure he has apparently faced throughout his life.

We also get a couple seemingly in the throes of a nasty breakup—Ruth and Andy, portrayed by Rebecca Henderson and Kelly AuCoin. They quarrel fiercely with the most resentment pouring out of the wife, and yet beneath it all looms the possibility of reconciliation.

Quincy Dunn-Baker plays Ray, who is on a sales trip. Having marital problems, he is intrigued by the waitress who comes to deliver room service. Jenn Lyon as the strikingly attractive Sharon gives an especially entertaining performance. She delivers hilarious sermons about how unhealthy the food she serves is and pontificates on her conspiracy theories about the whole world being run by an evil conglomerate. Ray is a bit of a jerk, ruining the possibility of building a relationship with the willing-to-date Sharon by his all-or-nothing determination to get her into bed that night.