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Seeing The Avenue Theater’s production of David Mamet’s “Oleanna” is like stepping out of a time machine in the early 1990s. You can almost hear Kurt Cobain’s screech in the background as Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas duel before the Senate judiciary hearings.

Or envision Bill Clinton’s sweaty testimony a few years later wherein he uttered his famously existentialist defense, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”

Because that is what “Oleanna” is actually about: What do the words we say to each other really mean? How can the words you hear possibly mean the same thing to you that they meant inside my head?

“Oleanna” is one of Mamet’s most difficult plays, both to perform and to watch. It’s a morally ambiguous story centering on two essentially unlikable characters, a pompous professor and a hapless student. But director Nick Sugar and cast mostly pull it off, despite a script that seems weirdly dated less than 20 years after it was written.

Carol (Elgin Kelley) comes to John’s office to discuss her grade on a recent paper and to express frustration at not understanding much of the class material. John, being a self-absorbed, professional bloviator, proceeds to batter the poor girl with more empty rhetoric.

We are meant to sympathize with Carol at first — John (Dan O’Neill) is rude toward her when he’s not answering phone calls from his wife about their pending house purchase. But if you listen closely when John reads aloud the opening lines of her paper, you immediately feel for anyone who has ever worked in higher education: ” ‘I think the ideas contained in this work express the author’s feelings in the way that he intended.’ ”

“What can that mean?” John asks.

What indeed. But Mamet’s real joke here is that the jargon John uses as a matter of course is just as bereft of meaning as Carol’s sad little essay — no doubt written in 14-point type with 2-inch margins. And John uses words for the same reason: to fill space, to fill the space around him with an aura of his own importance. It’s almost a given that these two will talk past each other.

Small spoiler alert: When Carol comes back to his office in Act 2, we find out that’s exactly what has happened. While John literally told a story that mentions sex, and while he literally touched her shoulders at one point, Carol, with the aid of what she calls her “group,” has concluded that she was sexually harassed. Let the games begin.

Kelley and O’Neill battle eagerly, but they seemed to struggle with Mamet’s language, at least at the outset. While his lines are by design stilted and awkward, at the top of the show it seemed more like it was the actors who were uncomfortable with the interruptions and one- word sentences, something that will probably work itself out as the show progresses.

Also, the duo is hampered by a set that is too wide-open. The story calls for a sense of claustrophobia, of these people being trapped together. The characters too easily escape the tension between them.

Still, this is a show worth seeing. Kelley is poignantly authentic in playing Carol’s stubborn frustration, as well as the dim fervor of the newly converted. For his part, O’Neill revels in the sheer jackassery of John in Act 1, but he also finds the man’s fear and desperation later on.

As to who is right and who is wrong: They both are. The title refers to a scam in which a couple — Ole and Anna — disappear after selling people swampland. One wonders if that’s what Mamet has John and Carol doing to us.

Welcome to moral ambiguity, 1990s-style.

“Oleanna” ***1/2 (out of four stars)

Gender warfare The Avenue Theater, 417 E. 17th Ave.Written by David Mamet. Directed by Nick Sugar. Starring Elgin Kelley and Dan O’Neill. 1 hour, 35 minutes. Through April 19. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. April 13. $18-$22. 303-321-5925 or . Warning: Not suitable for children.

This weekend’s theater openings

“The Curious Savage” A wealthy and charitable widow gives away much of her family’s wealth, to the ire of her greedy stepchildren who have her locked up. Through April 19. Gaslight Theatre, 7287 Lowell Blvd., Westminster, 720-232-7285 or .

“Defending the Caveman.” Colorado native Cody Lyman is back for another run of the one-man show that offers insights into contemporary feminism, masculine sensitivity and erogenous zones. Through April 20. New Denver Civic, 721 Santa Fe Dr., 303-309-3773 or the new denver civic’s home page.

“Dinner With Friends.” When one couple sets up another, only for it to years later fail, the first pair find that their trust in their friends — and each other — is threatened. Through April 20. Vintage Theatre, 2199 E. 17th Ave., 303-839-1361 or .

“In the Belly of the Whale.” Jonathan Bender plays nine characters in this one-man investigation into what it means to be Jewish in America today. Through April 13. At the Mizel Center, 350 S. Dahlia St., 303-316-6360 or .

“Luau for King Lear” In this Pat Cook farce, a theater company mounts a luau-themed tragedy to save their building. Through April 12. Arvada Festival Playhouse, 5665 Olde Wadsworth Blvd., 303-422-4090 or .

“The Merry Wives of Windsor.” A 1920s take on Shakespeare’s comedy. See story, above. Through April 19. Denver Center Theatre Company, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets, 303-893-4100 or .