By Jeff Gladstone. Directed by Jack Paterson. Musical direction by Joanna Chapman-Smith. A Fugue Free Theatre production. At Playwrights Theatre Centre Studio. Continues until October 13.

The expression in like Flynn is reportedly a reference to movie icon Errol Flynn's legendary sexual prowess. In Out Like Flynn, we meet the actor in his final days in Vancouver, when the gap between the myth and his real circumstances had grown unbearably wide.

Playwright and composer Jeff Gladstone's take on Flynn's time here is bleaker and lonelier than what history records of that fateful 1959 visit. (He had come here to sell his yacht and died a few days later.) Instead of depicting the round of parties where Flynn regaled Vancouver socialites with tales of his Hollywood exploits, Gladstone has him holed up on his boat, awash in morphine-drenched memories. It's a choice that emphasizes the despair beneath the glitter. Gladstone adds a further layer of introspection with his lovely, folky songs.

They're performed–many of them in gorgeous three-part harmony–by a chorus of women who take the roles of Flynn's numerous lovers. We see the young Flynn falling for a native girl in New Guinea; meeting, marrying, and repeatedly betraying his domineering wife Lili; and beginning his career as cinema's greatest swashbuckler (and off-screen cad). But Gladstone barely touches on one episode from the actor's life before taking us on to the next. As a result, we don't get to know much about the man.

Under Jack Paterson's direction, Russell Roberts as Flynn does his best to find an anchor in the play's ever-shifting realities, but it's often unclear who he's talking to or why. What comes across most strongly is his enthusiasm for women. Laura Di Cicco brings a fierce hauteur to her brief scenes as Lili, and Julie McIsaac shines as a sassy teenager who tries to seduce Flynn in the play's best scene. Rounding out the chorus is honey-voiced Joanna Chapman-Smith, whose acoustic guitar and warm presence are grounding elements in the show.

Julia Cheung's set deftly echoes the star's fading looks and fortunes: the once-handsome yacht is now a collection of tattered sails and empty crates, moodily lit by Darren Boquist.

Flynn's death is an intriguing vignette in our local history, but here his life remains an enigma.