By far my favorite Performing Arts Department show so far this year, “She Stoops to Conquer,” is a funny play put on by an amazing cast. Despite, or perhaps because of, the combinations of huge characters in a small studio, the play works the audience in without losing the theatrics.

“She Stoops to Conquer, or, The Mistakes of a Night” by Oliver Goldsmith, here directed by Jeffery Matthews, centers on the disagreements between parents and their marriageable children. On the one hand, Charles Marlow (played by Justin Joseph) is a man uninterested in marriage and utterly incapable of talking to well-bred females. Even so, his father sends him a-courting. The female in question likes Charles-who can talk just fine as long as he does not realize his “barmaid” is actually his betrothed in disguise-but must convince her father that the suitor is modest enough. This is complicated, as the suitor believes he has stopped at an inn and treats his future father-in-law as an innkeeper.

Meanwhile, Constance (played by Carli Miller), George Hastings (played by Kellen Hoxworth) and Tony Lumpkin are caught up in an odd sort of love triangle. Constance and George Hastings are in love, but Constance’s aunt (played by Alexa C. Shoemaker) insists she marry her cousin, Tony Lumpkin. Tony is not fond of the idea. Basically, an arranged marriage, some generational misunderstandings and tricks lead to a very entertaining play.

A stand-out scene showcases the first interview between suitor and daughter (Noga Landau, who is superb). The meeting is a pastiche of false starts, floor-watching, floundering conversation, stuttering and rapturous flailing. You would think this would get old after about a minute. It doesn’t. The whole theater was laughing hysterically along with me for the entirety of a scene at least three minutes long. We can send most of our thanks for this to the wonderful comic timing of Mr. Joseph. The only question remaining: how the actors made it through without cracking up themselves.

A pleasing surprise greets the audience, upon the first word spoken, in well-attuned British accents; in some cases two different dialects emerged from the mouth of the same character. It set the play, and gave it a good tone. (Although, when a minor character couldn’t grab a hold of her accent during one scene it threw me back into my seat, breaking the spell of the show for a good portion of the next scene.) The bar-room sequence dragged slightly, and was hard to understand at points. However, most of the time the accents were understandable and laudable. Often accents can either make a play work or make it flop, especially if no one can discern what is occurring onstage.

One of the marvelous things about the play itself is its characters, not a one true to life or even vaguely realistic. They are huge, with huge personalities, huge motivations and huge hairpieces, all carried without a hitch in this production. This is all the more impressive, because these characteristic neuroses and quirks (particularly in David Weiss’ Mr. Hardcastle) could not have been easy to pull off; nor could the wigs sported by Alexa Shoemaker’s Mrs. Hardcastle.

The play, performed in the A. E. Hotchner Studio, utilized its small space well, the amount of depth created by receding columns was pleasantly deceiving. As one has come to expect from a Performing Arts Department play, the costumes were very well put together, and the sound suited its purpose. Technically, not much impressed, but nothing distracted either.

Ultimately, a play is only as good as its ability to draw in its audience. This production of “She Stoops to Conquer” boasts larger than life characters that led you in and didn’t let you go until they started dancing. The play is funny enough on its own, but this version was downright hilarious.

The show, performed Friday, February 29, Saturday, March 1 (both at 8 p.m.) and Sunday, March 2 (at 2 p.m.) is worth your time. It may remind you of a sitcom, with wacky characters and a somewhat contrived ending, but like a good sitcom, you can’t help but enjoy it.

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