THEATER REVIEWS : Bringing Strong ‘Ladies’ Out of Retirement : The gently shaded 1940 mystery from Broadway’s Golden Age gets a loving and entertaining revival, well acted at Newport’s theater center.

In this day of minimal attention spans, mature folk usually forget there is a wealth of theatrical properties from days of yore that deserve revival. Today’s kids don’t even know they exist. Look what they’re missing.

One such gem used to be a staple of theaters from coast to coast. The 1940 drama is called “Ladies in Retirement,” by British playwrights Edward Percy and Reginald Denham.

Mary Sullivan Slack played the maid Lucy when she was studying drama at Santa Ana (now Rancho Santiago) College. Later, in 1970, she played the self-involved, misguided and villainous Ellen Creed. Unwilling to let her romance with the play fade, she has directed an ultimately respectable and entertaining revival at Newport Theatre Arts Center.

This is the sort of play, a mystery, that was a Broadway staple during its Golden Age. It’s unpretentious, gentle, full of character and suspense and a bang-up evening.

Ellen Creed (Joanne Underwood) has settled into middle-age as housekeeper and companion to well-to-do former actress Leonora Fiske (Louise Tonti) at the latter’s country home on the marshes of the Thames estuary in England.

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The only problem is Ellen’s two dotty younger sisters, Louisa (Linda Van Dine) and Emily (Teri Ciranna), who have come to visit, though Leonora is unaware that Ellen plans to make them permanent members of the household.

The spanner in the machinery is Leonora’s dislike of the sisters. She demands their immediate removal. What is Ellen to do? Well, the only remedy seems to be to remove Leonora instead.

Slack’s affection for the piece shows in every moment. Her tempos are efficient, and the gentle shadings in the action impeccable. William Cole’s living room setting is very British, the costumes by Larry Watts and Tom Phillips are correct to the period, and if Chris Garbacz’s lighting design is often a bit bright, it tones itself down at the right times. His character cameo lighting at the end of scenes is effective.

Underwood’s Ellen very well balances the woman’s sense of power, her sense of responsibility for her siblings and her lack of moral strength. It’s as rich a performance as Tonti’s delightfully buoyant aging actress. In a cast that looks as though they belonged to the period, these two look most like it.

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Greg Izay also looks at home as Ellen’s sleazy, good-for-nothing nephew Albert Feather, and he sports a good, proper working-class accent that’s as right as rain. The confrontation scene between Albert and Ellen in the last act is as taut and emotionally potent as it can be.

Cheryl Etzel’s maid Lucy is proper, flighty and slightly bumbled, and Elinor Schmidt’s neighboring nun has a fine aura of humble honesty.

Slack’s one misstep is not giving more restraint and control to Van Dine and Ciranna as the sisters. They spend too much time playing loony to seem natural, when the dottiness is written in the script and doesn’t need embellishment.

* “Ladies in Retirement,” Newport Theatre Arts Center, 2501 Cliff Drive, Newport Beach. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends March 6. $13. (714) 631-0288. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.

Joanne Underwood: Ellen Creed

Greg Izay: Albert Feather

Louise Tonti: Leonora Fiske

Cheryl Etzel: Lucy

Linda Van Dine: Louisa Creed

Teri Ciranna: Emily Creed

Elinor Schmidt: Sister Theresa

A Newport Theatre Arts Center production of the mystery by Edward Percy & Reginald Denham, produced by Rae Cohen. Directed by Mary Sullivan Slack. Scenic design: William Cole. Costume design: Larry Watts, Tom Phillips. Lighting design: Chris Garbacz. Sound design: Kevin Peterson. Stage managers: Bronson Hardy, Terri Collins.