Creative Loafing: Shakespeare Theatre Company's "The Way of the World"

EVERYTHING IN SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY'S superlative take on "The Way of the World" is deliciously ornate: the costumes, the set, the staging and, best of all, the language. The high-wattage, highfalutin dialogue in William Congreve's relentlessly sexual comedy is a steady stream of sparks.

First performed in 1700, "The Way" exemplifies Restoration comedy, a class of British theater in which the upper classes seduce each other with vigor and poodle hair, lusting after bodies and fortunes.

These are frivolous, idle people — and this comedic feast about adultery and sucker-love is both a rare treat for bookworms and a substance-free farce for the headline-weary: "I could laugh immoderately" serves as a rejoinder, while the audience laughs immoderately at lines such as, "I'll be taken ... by surprise."

Veanne Cox, a Seinfeld alum with a long list of TV credits, is delightful as Millamant, a much-sought-after, high-strung woman whose eccentricity is matched by her inner conflict. Nancy Robinette and Doug Rees play the lusty Lady Wishfort and the simile-strewing fop Sir Wilfull Witwoud, respectively, for laughs, while Colleen Delany is also excellent as a put-upon servant, Foible.

The plot can be hard to follow due to the tangled webs the large cast weaves jumping from embrace to embrace — but the story focuses on the efforts of several finely attired knaves and wenches to wrest away (or hold onto) the wealth of the Wishfort clan via blackmail, eavesdropping, marriage and so on.

Despite the play's antiquated manners, clothing and language, the advice it ultimately proffers remains prudent: Rich? Sign a prenup.

» Lansburgh Theatre, 450 7th St. NW; through Nov. 16, $23.50-$79.75; 202-547-1122. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)

Written by Tim Follos for Express
Photo by Carol Rosegg for Express