There's poetry in Shattered Globe Theater's production of “Come Back, Little Sheba,” but it doesn't necessarily come from William Inge's words. It comes from David Cromer's astute direction and exceptional acting, especially from Linda Reiter, whose touching, inspired performance ranks among the best of the year.

Ing's plays — “Sheba,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Picnic,” “Bus Stop,” “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs” — possess a simple, unvarnished eloquence this cast articulates beautifully, often without saying a word. As Lola, a lonely, middle-aged woman pining for the past and her runaway dog Sheba, Reiter (a picture of nervous energy and need) says it in the wistful, longing way she gazes at her vivacious young boarder Marie (a perky, flirty Maggie Corbett) and her strapping athlete boyfriend Turk (Jayce Ryan).

 As her husband Doc, a recovering alcoholic trying desperately to forget the past and live in the present, the excellent John Judd (in a heart-rending and heartless performance) says it in the slump of his shoulders, his detached expression and the deliberate way he tidies their kitchen.

Therein lies the poetry. And in this play about loss and failure, there may be no more exquisite expression of it than in the long stare that passes between the couple late in the play, as they confront their dashed expectations.

Thirty years earlier, Doc, a medical student, and Lola, a bubbly beauty, were a young couple in love. An unplanned pregnancy forced them to get married. The loss of the child and their inability to have more put a strain on their relationship. Lola fills that void by doting on her beloved pet, reminiscing about the past and living vicariously through Marie. Doc first tries to drown his regret in booze and later masks it behind a distant, carefully controlled facade that ultimately cracks in a violent confrontation.

Some dismiss Inge's examinations of mid-century, middle American angst as outdated and melodramatic. But Inge was a perceptive writer, and the way he addresses alcoholism, depression and female sexuality in “Sheba” was bold for 1950.

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