Souffle’s Choice : French Farce ‘Dinner’ Is an Outrageous Smorgasbord of Identities

French farce with a British accent sounds about as appealing as mad cow disease. But “Don’t Dress for Dinner”--Robin Hawdon’s London adaptation of Marc Camoletti’s Paris comedy “Bon Anniversaire”--has been made palatable somehow, and even highly entertaining at times, in the Laguna Playhouse production at the Moulton Theater.

Despite chewy writing and undernourished verbal wit, the show succeeds on the humor of an outrageous situation in which the semblance of marital propriety must be upheld at all costs, although everything depends on the fact that nobody really gives a hoot about it.

That and the flimsy logic behind a confusion of names, which leads to a catastrophic mix-up of identities, tend to undermine the comic rationale of the script. But if you don’t examine the situation too closely, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself laughing as heartily as Thursday’s first-night audience.

If all that sounds as though I’ve had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the admission that I enjoyed myself, let me put it this way: The only way to have a good time at this show is to park your brain at the door and thank the Laguna Playhouse chefs for an evening of dinner theater without the dinner.

“Don’t Dress for Dinner” deposits us for a weekend in the country home of Bernard (Tom Shelton) and Jacqueline (Lisa Robinson). She is about to visit mother for an overnight stay, which leaves him free to invite his mistress Suzanne (Victoria Morsell) over for a little tryst and to hire a cook, Suzette (Gail Godown), from the Bon Appetit catering service to prepare their dinner.

To allay the suspicion of nosy neighbors and to provide an alibi just in case Jacqueline finds out later that a woman was there, Bernard also invites his friend Robert for the weekend. What Bernard does not know is that Jacqueline and Robert are secret lovers. When she accidentally discovers that Robert is coming, Jacqueline cancels her plans and stays home because, naturally, she wants to hop into bed with him.

Unable to cancel his plans, Bernard enlists Robert’s help by getting him to play his mistress’ lover. Robert agrees to do so, despite his objections, then mistakes Suzette for Suzanne--they’re both called Suzie, see--and panic erupts as the charade of who’s who and what’s what gets stretched to more and more absurd lengths.

The production has an ace in the hole in Godown’s loopy performance. She’s a pistol as Suzette. With her lower-class Cockney accent and rich body English, Godown offers a broad comedy turn that takes the entire show over the top with her. Whenever she’s onstage, the production seems to get an injection of helium and lifts off the ground.

*

Director Andrew Barnicle sets up a fast pace and keeps the romp moving along neatly with plenty of sight gags, some of which are not easy to execute but are nicely accomplished. There are moments throughout the evening when you sense the ensemble could be snappier, when the timing is a shade slow. But that is bound to improve with more performances. And there are no dead spots where the action lags altogether, although Barnicle can’t do much about the repetitiousness of the script.

As Bernard, Shelton gives a diverting performance full of purposeful bumbling and wicked ineptness. If only he would stop working so hard, the portrayal would be funnier. Robinson goes for a dry hauteur as Jacqueline, which she often achieves, anchoring the play in a certain feigned reality.

David Anthony Smith acquits himself honorably in the fairly thankless role of Robert, the reluctant patsy; late in the second act a hulking Patrick Munoz adds his touch of low comedy to Godown’s as the cook’s husband. Morsell more or less goes through the motions, looking properly vapid as Bernard’s model-actress mistress.

“Don’t Dress for Dinner” is--not incidentally--very well dressed. Barnicle’s detailed set design of a country home converted from a large stonewalled barn lends the show an expansive feeling. And the stylish costumes enhance the sense that we’ve come to the right address.

All in all, the production is an overcooked offering served with a flourish, a high-calorie morsel intended for light theatrical nourishment.

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* “Don’t Dress for Dinner,” Laguna Playhouse’s Moulton Theater, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Tuesday-Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 2. $26-$30. (714) 497-2787. Running time: 2 hours.

Tom Shelton: Bernard

Lisa Robinson: Jacqueline

David Anthony Smith: Robert

Gail Godown: Suzette

Victoria Morsell: Suzanne

Patrick Munoz: George

A Laguna Playhouse production of a play by Marc Camoletti, adapted from the French by Robin Hawdon. Directed by Andrew Barnicle. Scenic design: Barnicle. Lighting design: Paulie Jenkins. Costume design: Mary Saadatmanesh. Sound design: David Edwards. Stage manager: D. Alexander.