Arlington (Map, News) - There is “funny — ha ha” and there is “funny — peculiar.”

Mark Charney’s comedy “37 Stones or The Man Who Was a Quarry,” which is premiering at the Charter Theatre, has many “funny — ha ha” moments, but it’s safe to say that the “funny — peculiar” moments are the ones that predominate the play.

The protagonist (he’s too spineless to be called a hero) of “37 Stones” is Mark (Michael Skinner), a neurotic 44-year-old who has passed 37 kidney stones since he was a teenager. Amazingly, this is the least of his problems. His biggest cross to bear is Edna (Jane E. Petkofsky), his incestuous Mother From Hell who makes Angela Lansbury in “The Manchurian Candidate” look like Mother Theresa.

Despite the presence of her younger son, Randy (Ray Ficca), bitter divorcee Edna concentrates all of her smothering overprotection on Mark, nagging and guilt-tripping him whenever anything threatens to separate the two of them, from leaving for college to marrying his long-suffering girlfriend, Erin (Sarah Melinda). Compared to this, the kidney stones seem like a minor inconvenience.

The squeamish nature of the material is summed up by the scene where a young Mark and Randy are forced to watch Edna and her equally demented sister Fanny (Caren Anton) pretend to be a male-female song-and-dance team performing the old Nat King Cole standard “Walking My Baby Back Home.” The creepiness factor peaks when the two women pretend to kiss and the boys literally run out of the room screaming.

Director Richard Washer gets convincing performances from Skinner, Petkofsky and Anton, but the characters they play are such mental basket cases that it’s almost impossible for the audience to care about them. The roles of Randy and Erin are far more sympathetic and interesting, and Ficca and Melinda provide the show with its funniest and most entertaining moments. (Ficca’s highlight is Randy’s reaction to Edna accusing Mark of being gay.)

To say that Charter’s “37 Stones” isn’t everybody’s cup of tea would be putting it mildly.

There are some undeniable laughs, but many theatergoers will be excused if they decide not to wallow in the characters’ miseries.

‘37 Stones or The Man Who Was a Quarry’

Charter Theatre’s production runs through March 31.

Venue: Theatre on the Run, 3700 South Four Mile Run Drive, Arlington

Performances: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday

Tickets: $20 to $25

More info: 202-333-7009, www.chartertheatre.org