"Don't you love farce?" So goes a line in the song Send in the Clowns. As a reviewer, I must state my own bias up front and admit that I am not a real fan of farce. That said, I found Stage Centre Productions' latest offering, George Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear to be a total delight from start to finish. A production of precision comic timing that provides a welcome diversion.

The story is a bit of nonsense concocted around the usual stock characters with mistaken identity and cartoon-like mania. When her husband suddenly loses interest in her, Raymonde Chandebise jumps to the conclusion that he must be having an affair. This sets in motion the madcap antics that make up this classic French farce.

Long a popular item in regional theatres, the original play has gone through many translations. The one presented by Stage Centre Productions is by John Mortimer and as directed by L. Garth Allen, it's a merry, mirth-filled misadventure.

Allen has assembled a production that functions like a well-oiled machine. Pacing and rhythm are always important in theatre, but particularly so with farce. The performances have to be believable, yet also broadly over-the-top. It's a tight rope act balancing these two extremes, but here the cast proves more than up to the challenge.

Leading the way is Judy Gans as the suspicious wife, a performance of sheer perfection. We have to believe this character otherwise the story falls apart. Gans commands the stage even while making the most preposterous leaps of logic.

Brian Kipping has dual roles as both the innocent husband and a hotel porter whose uncanny resemblance leads to all kinds of confusion.

It takes split-second timing and Kipping not only manages this, but also creates two clearly delineated characters so the audience always knows who is who, even if the on-stage characters can't tell the difference.

As the jealously flamboyant Spaniard, Edward Karek generates many of the evening's laughs with a broadly comic portrayal. Matching him in proper slapstick style are Michael Chodos and Robin Phillips as the hotel owner and his wife.

In fact, the entire cast is terrific and the show has been staged on a unique cartoon-like set designed by David McNiven that serves to enhance the madcap comedy.

It's another success for Stage Centre Productions, which maintain its excellence in staging classic plays with a level of professionalism that rivals the best of Toronto's professional downtown theatres.