Watching “Talley’s Folly” at the Theater at Monmouth is like eavesdropping on a seduction. Granted, the audience is invited to watch, but the actors in this two-character play create such an intimate atmosphere that seeing the production is tantamount to invading their privacy.

Lanford Wilson wrote three plays chronicling two generations of the Talley family of Lebanon, Mo., the playwright’s hometown. “Talley’s Folly” is the second in the trilogy and won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1980.

Set in the family boathouse toward the end of World War II, the play tells the story of how Matt Friedman, a Jewish accountant, wins the hand of Sally Talley, the feisty old maid of the family. But just under the surface, it is a tale of repressed desires and shameful secrets.

As the 97-minute one-act play opens, Matt speaks directly to the audience, describing the encounter about to happen as a waltz. In the hands of director Janis Stevens, however, “Talley’s Folly” has the tempo of the frenzied tarantella rather than the sedate one-two-three, one-two-three meter of the waltz.

Stevens understands there is a current to Wilson’s play that is as changeable as the river the Talley boathouse overlooks. The director expertly guides her actors over the murky emotional waters of these lovers, yet avoids none of the rapids that make the ride and the play so exhilarating.

Mark S. Cartier, who plays Matt, has been at Monmouth for six summers and Sally Wood, doubling as artistic director this season, has been part of the acting company for five. Last season, they appeared together in Noel Coward’s “Private Lives” at Monmouth. Cartier played Felix Unger in “The Odd Couple” with the Penobscot Theatre Company in May.

The fact that they know and trust each other as actors is obvious in the risks Cartier and Wood take in their roles. Their many summers as colleagues undoubtedly allowed them to create the intense intimacy the playwright intended.

Cartier’s Matt is a Jewish refugee more comfortable and content with numbers than with people. He is as doggedly determined to win the heart and hand of Sally as she is to resist him. While the actor uses a slight accent, Cartier avoids any stereotypical mannerisms that could have turned the man from amusing suitor to comic caricature.

His Matt comes to Sally determined to seduce the woman he loves into baring her soul by exposing his own. What Cartier shares with the audience is Matt’s pain, loneliness and desperate desire to shed himself of both with a woman he never expected to love. He is mesmerizing.

Wood’s stubborn Sally is a woman torn between family loyalty, the mores of the 1940s and her love for a man so different from everyone she’s ever known. To admit she loves this man would open up new worlds for Sally and alienate her from family, friends and a life she both loves and despises.

The actress shows the character’s tough shell and only reveals Sally’s attraction to and love for Matt when the two lock eyes. Wood has Sally shed her resistance to Matt as a snake sheds it skin – a few scales at a time. It is enthralling to watch, and when Sally finally lets go of her secret, it’s as if the snake’s suddenly freed itself from skin too tight for far too long.

Ron Madonia’s scenic and lighting designs add to the intimate setting. This play feels perfect on the stage at Cumston Hall, which often looks cramped and overwhelmed by the pageantry of Shakespeare’s histories. Madonia creates a ragged yet romantic and workable set that the actors use well.

“Talley’s Folly” is a play about people’s drive for emotional connection with other human beings. It also is a delightful love story beautifully told. In the hands of the Theatre at Monmouth, it is one of the finest and most memorable productions the company’s mounted in recent years.

“Talley’s Folly” will be performed Aug. 7, 10, 18 and 22. For information, call 933-9999.