In APT’s “The Critic,” the theater makes fun of itself — and what fun!

Friday night in Spring Green, the line from the British The Office to Monty Python to Gilbert & Sullivan to Richard Brinsley Sheridan became abundantly. The evidence lay in a screamingly funny American Players Theatre staging of Sheridan’s The Critic, from 1779. Director William Brown left it in period, but added some anachronistic touches, especially on the musical side, and thus some deliciously cheap laughs that are right at home in this play.

The Critic begins as a clever, wordy, drawing room comedy. Two dilettantes, the easily charmed Lord Dangle (Darragh Kennan) and the jaded Sneer (Jonathan Smoots), though not professional critics or even writers, have somehow become important tastemakers in London theater circles. Playwrights, actors and managers seek out their opinions.

Their clever sparring and barely-concealed insults with vain playwright Sir Fretful Plagiary (La Shawn Banks) played incredibly well in the big, outdoor, Up-the-Hill Theatre. Banks, Kennan and Smoots timed and articulated Sheridan’s torrents of words with deadly accuracy and effect. They spoke lightly and drew in the ear; their impeccable timing kept the pace but allowed the laughs to bloom.

But about the time you start thinking Noel Coward, the literary conceits of the thing slide a little as an entourage of zany opera singers barge in seeking Dangle’s blessing and influence. Only after they exit do we meet the eventual central character, Puff.

That would be Jim DeVita. His Puff is the archetypical PR guy — jumpy, brash, sizzling with energy, full of  ideas and full of baloney. It seems he’s written a tragedy, The Spanish Armada, and wants the two tastemakers to attend a rehearsal. Even after he instructs them on the five modes of informational flim-flam, they fail to realize they are part of the hype for  his show. Not much has changed in the PR biz since 1779.

De Vita’s Puff becomes the furiously beating heart of the show, as Act 2 is nothing but the rehearsal of his tragedy. Sneer smirks at this steaming pile of melodramatic clichés, logical absurdities, purple prose (some purloined from Shakespeare), mawkish sentiment and clumsy continuity. Dangle, smitten as he is with the grande dame actress (Tracy Michelle Arnold) playing the heroine, Tiburnia, is more forgiving in his assessments.

De Vita’s Puff is head over heels over every detail, conceit and word of his play. He meets every actors’ reluctance and Sneer’s every logical objection with burning enthusiasm for his own vision and burning faith in the power of theatrical convention.

Sneer: “Why is Tiburnia [formerly in a sexy red dress] in a white satin gown?”

Puff: “Because she’s gone mad! When a woman goes mad, she must be in a white satin gown. It’s a rule.”

A good deal of the humor in Act 2 rises from the fact that Puff is utterly, spectacularly wrong about everything, yet utterly sure that he is right about everything.

The Critic is in part a comedy of character, and in one respect it is subtle. In Act 2, we see the “actors” move into the wings and switch characters — most of them play several in the play within a play. After a while, we come to understand the characters behind the characters. Some actors are more temperamental than others, some are more naive than others, and so on. Some are fine repeating a scene at Puff’s insistence, others sabotage the repeat. Some are hams. Their layered nature makes the characters more amusing and interesting. Favorite moment in this regard: Arnold icily staring down Puff, her alleged boss, for daring to direct her.

What begins as a comedy of words devolves into a comedy of action and spectacle. This is a big show, complete with sword fights, a sea battle and musical numbers. The Spanish Armada is a deeply awful play, and the APT cast of 23 gleefully plays a deeply awful bunch of actors in it. Erik Parks, for example, does the worst Castilian lisp in theatrical history, as Spanish anti-hero Don Ferolo Whiskerandos. Susan Shunk goes from playing the long-suffering Lady Dangle to red-hot showgirl allegory of the Spanish fleet. Sarah Day plays Tiburnia’s confidante like a very nervous actress terrified by fear of underacting.

What we have, here, is a cast of very good actors playing a cast of very bad actors. They’re so good they’re bad. Or maybe they’re so bad they’re good.

But two things are certain. First, they’re hilarious. Second, everyone involved in this show, fictional or real, from Sheridan down to the bit players in Spring Green, loves the theater. And if you see The Critic, you’ll love the theater, too.

The Critic, one of several shows running in repertory, is up through Sept. 10. For a full schedule and ticket information, visit the APT website. TCD’s Tom Strini will review four APT plays this weekend. Click on the following link for the review of APT’s The Glass Menagerie.