THEATER REVIEW ‘PEACOCK HILL’ : Southern Burlesque : Plaza Players’ farce about a Mississippi family is good fun, and not too taxing.

Plaza Players’ first production for 1992, “Peacock Hill” is a farce with a Southern setting. Like the company’s 1990 Southern-situated farce, “Daddy’s Dyin’ . . . Who’s Got the Will?” the current show’s good fun, none too taxing on the audience’s intellect.

Despite the interruption to rehearsals caused by director Michael Maynez’s heart attack (he’s since recovered), the cast persevered with June Dudley at the reins.

Judging from the energetic opening night performance, any lost momentum was minimal.

The main characters in this Tennessee Williams-inspired burlesque are your typical Mississippi family.

Papa Bo Gentilly, the earthy Moon Pie baron, is married to Scripture-spouting Ramonia. While daughter Sincerity doesn’t seem to get out much, her elder sister, Honeysuckle, is a nymphomaniac specializing in lounge pianists. Their brother, Byron Lee, is a cynical and possibly suicidal hypochondriac who spends most of the time in his bathrobe. Another brother is in Paris, finding himself.

Although seemingly incompatible, everybody in the family gets along well; even Honeysuckle’s predilection is treated more as an eccentricity than a moral lapse.

Into this group wander Honeysuckle’s latest conquest, one Peeble Frawble, and peripatetic singer-guitarist Cruisin’ Jack. High jinks ensue.

First presented by the Players 16 years ago, “Peacock Hill” was written by Michael Bilek Hilliard, a former resident of Ojai whose previous contributions to the company’s book were the sweaty dramas “Death of a Topless Dancer in 25 Words or Less,” “Burnt Umber” and “Indigo Blue.”

The first act is pretty wordy, as everybody tells his or her story to Frawble. But there’s a payoff, one of the play’s most amusing running gags.

Lawrence Smith stars as Papa Bo, somewhat patterned after Tennessee Williams’ Big Daddy, and the actor also appears briefly at the beginning as “Mississippi Frank,” the play’s purported author. The always dependable Linda Lacey plays Ramonia, Paula Starr is Honeysuckle, and Emmee McInnis shows particular strength as Sincerity.

Alwin Attema plays Byron Lee, Tony Wodwaski is pianist Frawble, and Doug Stuart is believable (if that’s a desirable quality in such a play) as Cruisin’ Jack.

The supporting cast includes Jay Clayton, Darrell Safi Dona’t and Jeffrey Brett, with a guest appearance by Tracy Hiott as a relative the none too genteel Gentillys never knew they had.

The show’s broadly played, of course, the humor’s sophomoric at its most sophisticated, and the accents bear little, if any, resemblance to anything from the American South--all appropriate enough for this kind of a show. One jarring note is the use of the term “rape” where something gentler would be more suitable, not to mention enlightened.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Peacock Hill” continues Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8 through Feb. 8 at the Plaza Players Theater, 34 N. Palm St., Ventura. Tickets are $7 Wednesdays, $9 Fridays, $10 Saturdays. For reservations or further information, call 643-9460.