THEATER REVIEW / ‘NUNSENSE’ : Demented Fun : This off-kilter, off-Broadway revue in Santa Barbara offers an amusing sendup of the absurdities of convent life.

To the hoofing cadences of an incongruous vaudeville number--”Just a Coupl’a Sisters”--two nuns strut their stuff, doffing straw hats and waving shepherd’s staffs in place of canes.

It’s a scene that might well culminate a long history of rebellion against the mental cobwebs of Catholicism. Martin Luther had his “Ninety-Five Theses.” James Joyce had his “Ulysses.”

And now, in our era, composer-lyricist Dan Goggin brings us “Nunsense,” now on stage at Villa Santa Barbara.

Obviously bent on exorcising the demons from his dogma-steeped personal history, Goggin’s off-kilter, off-Broadway revue is a consistently amusing sendup of the absurdities of convent life.

Adjusting to life in the holy order has its tribulations, we learn at the outset. Defending her first assignment, dotty Sister Mary Hubert (Betty Mann) explains that she worked in a leper colony because “all the good causes were taken.” The ensuing ensemble number is replete with discarded appendages--all in demented but good-natured fun.

Tackling temptations with time steps, the plucky Starlight Entertainment cast heel and hail their way through wide-ranging satire in every musical style, from sacred hymns to crooning country ballads.

And this despite a shoestring budget and modest facilities. Not even dinner theater, this hors d’oeuvre theater is staged in the small performance space of a retirement home with virtually no resources save enthusiasm and hard work.

Miraculously, though, the meager venue ideally suits the show’s premise: In a high school gymnasium in Hoboken, five nuns stage an impromptu fund-raiser for their calamity-stricken convent. It seems that most of their sisters were unexpectedly called to heaven when they dined on botulism-tainted vichyssoise. (“For 52, bon appetit was also bon voyage.”)

Unfortunately, before the last four nuns could be suitably interred, the reverend mother (Barbara Zeiher) blew the funeral funds on a new VCR.

Separation of church and state notwithstanding, the sisters are feeling heat from the health department, as they relate in their production number, “We’ve Got to Clean Out the Freezer.”

A high-spirited trio of younger nuns with strong singing voices provides the most consistent performances, and the majority of the satirical range. Shelley Ward is the street-smart Sister Robert Anne, trying to balance her obligatory humility with her longing to be a star. Marianne Ilges brings kooky confusion to her nun with no past, Sister Mary Amnesia. And as Sister Mary Leo, Debbie Wynn complements her vocal skills with impressive dancing talent.

Bobbi Lindstrom provides the onstage synthesizer accompaniment, and Erin Graffy’s choreography is nicely tailored to the varying skills of the cast.

Throughout, director Jim Ward sustains the appropriate light, whimsical touch that keeps the piece enjoyable and (relatively) inoffensive.

With so many venues closer to home there’s no compelling reason to travel long distances for community theater in someone else’s community.

But if you find yourself in Santa Barbara some weekend, “Nunsense” makes for an agreeable evening’s nonsense. It might even be habit forming.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Nunsense” will be performed through July 28 at the Villa Santa Barbara, 227 E. Anapamu St. in Santa Barbara, Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 6:30 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Optional hors d’oeuvres served one hour before show time. Tickets are $12.50, $17 and $21. For reservations or further information, call 964-3688.