Like a soap opera you can’t stop watching “Burn This” indulges audiences in the tears, suffering and laughter of its glamorous characters. A revealing look at four people struggling with life’s issues, “Burn This” is an entertaining drama, filled with beautiful people whose lives are much more interesting than our own.

Graduate student Margaret Morneau directs the Playwright’s Theatre production of Lanford Wilson’s “Burn This”. Set in New York, it deals with Anna, her film writer boyfriend Burton (Justin Pickersgill) and her gay roommate Larry, grieving over the loss of their friend Robbie.

Their lives and grieving get thrown off track when restaurant manager Pale (Senior Eric Esquer) arrives to collect his deceased brother’s belongings. Despite his temperamental personality, he unleashes a passion in Anna that she cannot deny or expose to her rich boyfriend.

Making her Sacramento State theatrical debut as Anna, Junior Olivia Johansson gives a semi adequate performance, ranging inconsistently from stellar to disappointing. Her hollow delivery seems to exist only for the cast to work off of, but she comes through during the more dramatic scenes of the play.

The life of the show is Senior Jamie Price, who plays Anna’s gay roommate Larry. He delivers his lines with an improvisational flair much like the best actors in the game. Price projects facial expressions that greatly enhance his performance, leaving you anxious to see what he’ll do next.

“Burn This” does not lack in entertainment value. But it falls short by failing to offer audiences anything more substantial than a simple love story. The play begins with a potentially intriguing issue: Robbie’s family, ignorant of his gay lifestyle, believes Anna to be his fiance. Anna and her friends lament over the fact that Robbie was alienated from his family.

I was eager to see how these conflicts would play out and thought there might be some great blowout with Robbie’s family, an eventual acceptance and a dramatic conclusion. Instead, the plot concentrates on the Anna, Burton and Pale love triangle, making for an empty story indeed.

But an empty story isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes all we need is to relax and escape into lives different from our own where problems are much simpler.