The much-anticipated new play by Tony Kushner that arrived at the Guthrie Theater last weekend is a sprawling thing that comes in at just under four hours with two intermissions. Much of that time passes swiftly, though by the third hour the sense of no way out is palpable, and the whole thing ends with a truly “that’s it?” coda.

Clearly, it isn’t finished, though some parts of it are terrific and the overall atmosphere is both entertaining and heady.

Kushner is often compared to theatrical polemicists like George Bernard Shaw -- and, indeed, the title of the new play, “The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures,” is a nod to the book Shaw wrote in the 1920s titled “The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism.”

To follow that thread, I suppose “Intelligent Homosexual's Guide ...” could be compared to Shaw’s “Heartbreak House,” a play that combines farce with broken hearts and self-absorbed characters and is highly admired while also being considered “difficult.” The characters in this play teeter between sharply drawn people and spouting didactic fountains -- so the rhythm of the play is a blend of speechifying, non-fake punch lines and aching emotion. For the most part, it’s a combination that keeps things moving along. You seldom tire of hearing these people talk.

The farcical element
Farce, which always involves people doing outrageous things with straight faces, is a key element in “Intelligent Homosexual...” though it’s of a modern sort, where voices overlap and no doors are slammed. A second-act ensemble scene, with everyone involved in chaotic, simultaneous arguing, is absolutely stunning in its cacophonous, hilariously sad complexity.

Another element, to my thinking, is a suspension of disbelief. First, there is the unbelievable Brooklyn household headed by Gus Marcantonio, a retired longshoreman and committed disciple of the Communist Party USA. His three grown children include a gay son and lesbian daughter, both of them lawyers, and a working-class youngest son with a wife and three kids.

None of them practices fidelity as part of personal relationships, though all have long-time “spouses” who are fully aware of what’s going on. The lesbian daughter routinely heads for the basement where she has trysts with her ex-husband, a successful real-estate attorney who nonetheless feels comfortable sleeping next to a boiler. The gay son, who is in a sexless 26-year relationship, also spends tens of thousands of dollars in a complicated relationship with a male prostitute whose heart is broken every time they meet, despite the exchange of cash.

The dramatic fuel cell for the play is Gus Marcantonio’s decision to commit suicide, which brings all the members of the family together and ignites all sorts of resentments -- along with windy, witty discussions on all sorts of subjects, including things theological.

The suicide question resonates
The suicide issue, of course, is of a theatrical kind that has little to do with real life. People intent on suicide rarely convene family meetings to ruminate on it. But it’s a sturdy, proven device. Marsha Norman, for example, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for “’night, Mother,” a slick two-character play in which a suicidal woman blithely invites her mother to talk her out of shooting herself in the head.

Why does Gus want to kill himself? The realization of creeping dementia is suggested, though it’s hard to believe that somebody in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease would be capable of learning Latin, as Gus is doing. Another explanation is despair about losing the purpose to life that comes from labor. This leads to discussions of socialist philosophy, the nobility of the working class, the struggle of unions in the 1930s, and the subsequent triumphs and failures of the labor movement. Given the economic turmoil of our times, it’s a subject that resonates.

As to theology, it helps that there are at least three theologians present -- including the partners of the gay son and daughter, and an aunt who has experimented with everything from being a cloistered nun to being a disciple of Mary Baker Eddy’s Christian Science beliefs. With the exception of the aunt, whose outlook is sublime and quipping, the theology is one in which God is a minor player, superseded by academic logic that veers toward the fatalistic and, at times, the sarcastic. These homosexuals are almost intolerably intelligent.

The Guthrie’s production, which is directed by Michael Grief, is so admirably strong that you want to discount the sprawl and enjoy the moments. At the center of the cast is Michael Cristofer’s thunderous portrayal of Gus -- a Willy Loman for our time -- as well as deeply etched portrayals of his three children by Linda Emond and Stephen Spinella as the gay siblings and Ron Menzel as the youngest son.

This is a play in which even the secondary characters are major. Michael Potts and Charity Jones are both caustic and wounded as the gay theologian spouses who are putting up with this dysfunctional family, and Michael Esper is heartbreaking as the self-loathing gay prostitute. As the aunt -- and the “voice of reason” character in farce -- Kathleen Chalfant is reassuringly sublime, even though she has to contend with human explosions all around her. These actors know how to dance with words and ideas.

The mechanical set by Mark Wendland moves the many scenes through whole rooms in the Brooklyn household, with doors gliding away or a woody arts-and-crafts living room sliding forward like a dream of comfort in a world of struggle. In the final act, Kushner gives an inkling that all things may work out, but then leaves us dangling. Is that like life? Maybe so, but theater is a different venue.

“The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures” continues at the Guthrie through June 28, along with two other productions in the Guthrie’s “Kushner Celebration”: “Caroline, or Change,” a musical, and “Tiny Kushner,” an evening of short plays. For information and reservations, go here.