Jealousy, commitment, deception, obsession and love take center stage in “The Real Thing,” but catchy pop tunes play in the background. “The Real Thing” opening Friday at the Ethel M. Barber Theatre and running through Nov. 9, is an emotionally complex play that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

“I think it’s one of the greatest plays of all time,” said Communication senior Lily Rabe, who plays Annie, a candid actress in love with Henry, a romantic, perpetually sarcastic playwright. “It explores different dynamics of human relationships, and it does it in a very honest way.”

“The Real Thing” is a revival of Tom Stoppard’s Tony Award-winning play about the intricacies of marriage and love. While it is set in London in the 1980s, its subject is one that modern audiences can relate to, said Jarrod Zimmerman, a Communication junior who plays Max, a character whose outlook on relationships is described as “Love me because I’m in pain.”

The play is directed by Craig Kinzer, an associate professor in the theatre department. Kinzer attended the play when it opened in New York in 1984, starring Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close and directed by Mike Nichols.

Calling Stoppard an “unparalleled wordsmith,” Kinzer said he has been obsessed with the play ever since. “‘The Real Thing’ is complicated and beautifully constructed,” he said. “It’s a terrific play for someone in the middle of his life to share with young people.”

Although it is a comedy, the play delves into deeper issues of insecurity and ultimate self-discovery in relationships. The script pairs intimate material with quick quips and clever dialogue.

“Tom Stoppard’s play is incredibly witty, well-written, and hopefully well-spoken,” said Michael Kohn, a Communication junior who plays Billy, the young, boisterous actor pining after Annie. “It’s such a great, complicated story that we have to tell.”

Fellow Communication junior J.D. Serfas stars as Henry, a character he describes as an “intelligent playwright with a critical eye for bullshit.” Trying to write a play for his second wife, Annie, Henry muses over his inability to write about love.

“Loving and being loved is very unliterary. It’s happiness expressed in banality and lust,” he says.

Zimmerman said he loved the language of the play. “It’s just so quotable,” he said. “The characters have so much to say.”

Cast members said that one of the play’s greatest strengths is its realistic perspective of common relationship issues. Throughout the play, the characters seesaw between dependence and indifference, trust and destructive insecurity, tenderness and cynicism.

Serfas said this is the most realistic play he has ever been in. “What’s there onstage is a realistic, accurate reflection of the emotion and experience that most people have gone through at some point in their lives,” he said.

Pop culture is also integrated into the play, most notably in Henry’s rather unrefined affection for catchy pop singles. The incorporation of songs is clever and often ironic — when Max learns of his wife’s infidelity “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” by the Righteous Brothers plays in the background.

The contemporary, quick-witted script allowed the cast to experiment with comedy. “It was really fun because I get to be witty and sarcastic,” said Communication senior Tara Howard, who plays Charlotte, Henry’s sassy and cynical ex-wife. “[The role] brings out a side of me that people don’t normally get to see.”

Kohn’s charismatic portrayal of Billy provides an entertaining break from the tension that mounts between Henry and Annie throughout the play. “I get to go out and just have a ball,” he said. “From my first scene on, I just completely cut loose.” The play is about falling in or out of love, the “unrequited and the unrequiting,” as Annie puts it, and audience members will have a hard time getting some of the play’s striking lines — and its familiar array of pop songs — out of their heads.

“You want to give it time. Time to go wrong, change, spoil,” says Annie to her married lover, Henry. “Then you’ll know it wasn’t the real thing.”

But Stoppard’s work is indeed the real thing, especially when it comes to providing a poignant mix of drama and comedy. “This play is constantly revealing itself in beautiful ways,” said Kinzer. “It’s a very complex and humane journey into the rich gray areas of love.”