That former sexpot Kathleen Turner, who so memorably raised temperatures in such films as Body Heat and Crimes of Passion, has become a formidable presence in middle age. Her body thickened and her voice now a husky baritone rasp, the actress cuts a striking figure in the new Broadway play High. Playing Sister Jamison Connelly--a tough-talking nun assigned to counsel a hopelessly heroin addicted teenager--she seems like someone you definitely don’t want to mess with.

That her character is something of a cliché is but one of the problems of Matthew Lombardo’s drama, which reduces it all too relevant subject matter to a series of melodramatic plot revelations.

Sister Jamison, who dresses in street clothes rather than the traditional habit, is a former addict herself, which makes her uniquely suited to treat Cody Randall (Evan Jonigkeit), a 19-year-old addict who was sent to her halfway house after overdosing and being found with a dead 14-year-old boy who had apparently been raped.

Assigned to the case by the priest in charge of the facility, Father Michael (Stephen Kunken), Sister Jamison is initially resistant. But she’s given no choice, so she reluctantly begins a series of combative sessions with the truculent Cody, who admits to having used pretty much every drug that exists.

 Every half hour or so, the playwright drops a bombshell, whether it’s Cody’s providing the details of his troubled upbringing at the hands of a prostitute mother or a hidden familial relationship between two of the characters or the revelation of a dark secret from Sister Jamison’s past.

Much of the play’s humor derives from Sister Jamison’s endless use of profanity. But having a nun dropping four-letter words with abandon is about as unamusing as the clichéd cinematic staple of having elderly grandmother types employing similarly would-be shocking language.

Not helping matters is the fact that Cody is essentially a compendium of nervous tics and mannerisms who at one point strips off all his clothes in an all too obvious attempt to shock the good sister.

In between the naturalistic scenes, Sister Jamison directly addresses the audience in a series of high-toned monologues delivered in front of a backdrop of a dark sky with twinkling constellations. It’s during these interludes that the double meaning of the play’s title is made clear.

Despite its manipulative aspects, the play is nonetheless reasonably compelling due to the inherent emotional power of its subject matter and Turner’s compelling performance. The veteran actress commands the stage with a ferocious intensity that would make anyone scared straight.

Booth Theatre, 222 W. 45th St. 212-239-6200. www.Telecharge.com.