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Harebrained subterfuges. Preposterous misunderstandings. A churlish assault with an ice cube. As much daffiness as you could load into a Citroen — and more — piles up methodically in "Don't Dress for Dinner," English playwright Robin Hawdon's adaptation of a farce by French dramatist Marc Camoletti. In the energetic if occasionally stilted production of the play at Northern Virginia's 1st Stage, the choicest bits of comedy involve Suzette, a cook who's roped into a convoluted series of deceptions while working at a house outside of Paris.

As portrayed with panache by Liz Dutton, Suzette is a feisty and self-confident Cordon Bleu alum who's as quick-witted as she is mercenary. She can dance a tango, order a Cointreau frappé, beat up her strapping husband and stare a prevaricating employer into discomfiture — and don't try getting in her way when she's wielding sugar tongs.

Unfortunately, not all the acting turns in "Don't Dress for Dinner" are as deft as Dutton's, a flaw that may particularly bother theatergoers who prefer narrative substance to elaborately contrived piffle. But director Tom Prewitt comes up with some clever bits of stage business, and he keeps the farce's cheerfully absurd storyline bowling along at a brisk clip.

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That story revolves around Bernard (Evan Crump), a homeowner who plans to entertain his mistress, Suzanne (Jessica Shearer Wilson), while his wife, Jacqueline (Katie Nigsch-Fairfax), is on a trip. After Jacqueline cancels her plans, in order to steal a few precious moments with her lover, Robert (Joshua Dick), who happens to be Bernard's close friend , everyone in the house must resort to deception. (Three of the play's characters also appear in Camoletti's best-known farce, "Boeing-Boeing," which had a well-received Broadway revival a few years ago.)

Transmitting harried intensity tempered by brazen aplomb, and displaying solid comic timing, Dick is quite watchable as Robert, while a pouting, satin-gowned Wilson provides the right incongruous glamour as Suzanne (who, inevitably, ends up posing as Suzette). A little more staginess clings to the performances of Crump, Nigsch-Fairfax and Gil Hasty (who plays Suzette's husband). Let's not talk about the characters' mismatched accents, which hover along a spectrum stretching between Eton and Omsk.

These weaknesses notwithstanding, the cast delivers the movements, sight gags and double takes that the play requires, and Tobias Harding's converted-farmhouse set accommodates the action. There are some bonus moments of shtick that appear to reflect Prewitt's ingenuity: for example, the sequence in which Bernard grabs the ice tongs from the bar and jousts with an imagined romantic rival, while Suzette — trying desperately to seem sympathetic to his plight (he is after all, her boss) — does the same with sugar tongs from the tea tray.

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Costumier Cheryl Patton Wu gets to pitch in humorously, too, with a well-executed sartorial effect involving Suzette's cooking outfit. (Dutton gives the moment extra oomph.) The designer also helps contribute closure: In a running joke toward the end of "Don't Dress for Dinner," almost all the characters swap street clothes for sleepwear. The change, and the production's final moments, will come too soon for some audiences, and not soon enough for others.

Wren is a freelance writer.

Don’t Dress for Dinner

by Marc Camoletti, adapted by Robin Hawdon. Directed by Tom Prewitt; lighting, Colin Dieck; props, Deb Crerie and Kay Rzasa; vocal coach, Jane Margulies Kalbfeld. About 2 hours. Through Oct. 2 at 1st Stage, 1524 Spring Hill Rd., McLean. Call 703-854-1856 or visit 1ststagetysons.org.

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