Out of the dross that is soap opera, Noah Haidle has spun comic gold. What Is The Cause Of Thunder? (inspired by a line from King Lear) is the title of his latest play, currently premiering at the Williamstown Theater Festival; it is also that of the television show in which the actress Ada (exquisitely tart Wendie Malick) has starred for 27 years, improbably surviving a series of spectacular deaths.

So steeped is Ada in her role as the ever-resilient Emily Posten, she prefers it to boring, mundane reality. For example, as her ultra-pregnant real-life daughter, Ophelia (the phenomenal Betty Gilpin) dutifully helps Ada go over the next episode's sides, the younger woman must constantly rep[...]