THEATER REVIEW / ‘LETTICE AND LOVAGE’ : Gem by Shaffer : Solid performances mark the Plaza Players production of the wry English stage comedy. The show is literate yet funny.

Ventura County theater fans may feel free to gloat: the Plaza Players are currently performing Peter Shaffer’s comedy “Lettice and Lovage,” while a touring production’s planned Los Angeles run has been canceled.

“Lettice” is written as a vehicle for two especially talented actresses: Both Maggie Smith and Margaret Tyzack won Tonys for their performances in the 1990 Broadway production.

Virginia Streat and Marlene Reinhart are Ventura’s stars, under the assured direction of Michael Maynez.

Lettice (a nickname for Letitia) Douffet is a guide in one of England’s least stately homes--the history of Fustian House is so boring that the imaginative guide feels compelled to embellish upon it.

Her increasingly creative stories please tourists but irritate historians, whose ire causes Lettice to be summoned by the main office.

There, she is confronted by Lotte Schoen, an inspector for the Preservation Trust’s personnel department.

High jinks ensue as bureaucratic drudge Schoen first fires Douffet, then becomes both intrigued by her background--Lettice’s mother headed an all-female troupe that toured provincial France, relentlessly presenting Shakespeare to unwilling audiences--and inspired by Lettice’s uncompromising stand against mediocrity.

The show is as literate as might be expected from the author of “Equus,” “The Royal Hunt of the Sun” and “Amadeus,” and is also very funny, in the tradition of Shaffer’s “Black Comedy” and “The Public Eye.”

Among its other assets, Shaffer’s script might arouse an interest in English history, which is here presented in three dimensions and full color: She might be imaginative, but Lettice knows her stuff.

Lettice Douffet gives veteran Ventura actress Virginia Streat a character to chew on, and she’s terrific in a role whose closest analog might be Patrick Dennis’s “Auntie Mame.”

At first stiff, Lotte Shoen loosens up considerably as the play wears on through its three acts.

Marlene Reinhart has great fun with the part while making the transition believable.

Also appearing are Robert C. Reilly as an attorney, Lucille Ferrie as Schoen’s addled secretary, and Richard Goad, Hal Ferrie and Madelon Hendel as visitors to Fustian House.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Lettice and Lovage” continues Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. through Feb. 13 at the Plaza Players Theater, 34 N. Palm St., Ventura. Tickets are $7 Wednesday nights, $9 Fridays and $10 Saturdays. For reservations or information, call 643-9460.