Journeymen Theater’s production of Life’s A Dream isn’t unlike the condition its title invokes. Leaving the theater is kind of like waking from a dream, with the second act affecting and vivid in your mind, with the vaguely incomprehensible first act quickly fading from memory.

Life’s A Dream is the signature work of Pedro Calderon de la Barca. The script has kind of an unusual poetic quality, with some lines spoken in verse while others trail off without any particular rhyme scheme. The actors do a fine job in making the dialog flow as well as possible, without sounding sing-song or awkward. The work, the directorial debut of Alexander Strain, a frequent, welcome presence as an actor in area productions, plays with the ideas of consciousness and reality in a way that is interesting, if not always effective. A spare but smart set, filled with stars and abstract nods towards a palace-like setting, contributes to the mood.

But the pacing of the story doesn’t pick up steam until the second act. Life’s A Dream focuses on two individuals: Rosaura (Maggie Glauber), who has been wronged by Astolfo (Theo Hadjimichael) who wants to trade her in for a model with more noble blood; and Sigismund (Eric Messner), who has unfairly been kept from his rightful place on Poland’s throne. The plot details of the first act seem muddled and confusing – is Sigismund actually a monster of sorts? How exactly did things between Astolfo and Rosaura end? What’s going on with the mistaken cases of identity?

Luckily, things become a lot clearer in the second act, and the story seems to pick up pace and draw in the viewer more. And problems with the work’s structure are not the fault of the Journeymen cast, who are rather excellent. Messner brings a masculine energy and glint of dangerousness to his role without sacrificing audience sympathy. Glauber has an admittedly unusual stage presence, but this just tends to translate into her characters always feeling like genuine, complicated people. Lindsay Haynes gives a restrained turn as Estrella, the new subject of Astolfo’s desires.

The play ends on an upbeat but unrealistic note – loose ends are tied together a little too neatly, and past conflicts seem almost to magically disappear. But Life’s A Dream’s final impression is still a positive one, even if it doesn’t give such a great first impression.

Life’s A Dream runs at Church Street Theater through Feb. 2. Tickets are available online.