"The Strangest", a play taken off from Camus's "The Stranger".

The murdered Algerian in Albert Camus’s “The Stranger” isn’t even worthy of a name. We know the killer is a Frenchman who goes by Meursault, but the victim is anonymous. The deliberate, arbitrary coldness of the assault and Meursault’s lack of empathy are part of the 1942 novel’s point — the Cure’s first single, “Killing an Arab,” encapsulated the character’s alienation in just two minutes.

In recent years, attention has turned to the Algerian. In Kamel Daoud’s acclaimed novel “The Meursault Investigation,” the victim’s brother told the story. Now “The Strangest,” by Betty Shamieh (“Roar,” “Fit for a Queen”), reframes the point of view once again: from a criminal Frenchman to an Algerian woman, from the colonizer to the colonized. To further emphasize the perspective switch, this immersive production, directed by May Adrales (“Vietgone”), is set in a North African coffeehouse lined with heavy drapes and thick carpets, with audience members sitting on stools and large cushions.

Umm (Jacqueline Antaramian) belongs to a storytelling family, and she attempts to join their traditionally male ranks by turning her drama into a suspenseful riddle: Which of her three sons was shot dead on a beach one night?

The young men are archetypes, roughly defined: Nemo (Andrew Guilarte) is a lustful brute, Nader (Juri Henly-Cohn) a sensitive artist and Nounu (Louis Sallan) an innocent dope. All three are in love with Layali (Roxanna Hope Radja), whose status as the local sexpot is trumpeted by her tight red dress.

Ms. Antaramian and Alok Tewari (as Umm’s husband, Abu) have a steadying presence, but the younger cast members distractingly dial up their acting. They are not quite up to the script’s challenges, which mix Arabic storytelling flourishes and Ionesco-like absurdism — the colonial masters are embodied by Layali’s clownish French suitor, Gun (Brendan Titley), whose every utterance comes out as the word “bang.”

But then, the writing can be slapdash, too, in its pursuit of big targets: the submission of Algerian women in a patriarchal society; resistance and collaboration; the physical and mental impact of colonization. Such concerns are channeled through sexuality as Layali seeks escape with Gun while Nader is courted by an unseen Jean Genet (oddly referred to as a “famous writer,” though his first novel was published the following year).

It’s a lot to tackle, and “The Strangest” stumbles honorably. Perhaps Ms. Shamieh should have trusted her setting more. In close quarters, a story can be told simply, and it will be heard.

The Strangest 

Through April 1 at the 4th Street Theater, Manhattan, brownpapertickets.com. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes