Rory Mattson pauses for just a second before he tells what it is people will like about the play he’s directing for Albert Lea Community Theatre.

&uot;It’s wicked,&uot; he says with a smile. &uot;But it’s very funny.&uot;

Mattson is directing &uot;Don’t Dress for Dinner,&uot; a French farce. The play opens Thursday at the Albert Lea Civic Theatre.

In the play, a philandering husband invites his new girlfriend to spend the weekend at his country home. When his wife decides to stay home for the weekend, the husband asks his best man to show up, but he’s having an affair with the wife. Then the girlfriend and the cook show up and are mistaken for each other. Add to the mix the cook’s husband, and it’s confusion all around.

The play features Gordy Handeland as Bernard, Larry Pierce as Robert, Lisa Sturtz as Jacqueline, Jody Ellertson as Suzanne, Heather Earl as Suzette and Jeff Polis as George.

&uot;This is exactly the type of show I love,&uot; Mattson said of the fast-paced farce. But it’s very different from the British farces for which Mattson is known in the community theatre.

&uot;In British farces, there are a couple bad people and a couple good people and the audience pulls for the good people,&uot; he said. &uot;Here, there is no nice person. Everybody has an agenda. It has a Moliere-type quality about it.&uot;

The play was written by Marc Camoletti and adapted by Robin Hawdon.

ACT’s Artistic Director Patrick Rasmussen said among plays being done, this one is very popular right now. &uot;It’s ranked up there as funny as a British farce,&uot; he said.

Mattson said he believes people will receive this play as well as they have the Ray Cooney farces, like &uot;It Runs in the Family.&uot;

&uot;I suspect it may be different every night,&uot; he added.

The crew includes Patrick Rasmussen, Fran Kalis, Doyle Robison, Barb Osmundson, Catherine Buboltz and lighting design by Mike Wangen.

“Don’t Dress For Dinner” runs Oct. 17-19 and 23-26 at the Albert Lea Civic Theatre.

Curtain time is 7:30 p.m.

Box office hours are 3:30-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6-7:30 p.m. on performance nights, plus 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Saturday performances.

The box office number is 377-4371.

ACT’s season ticket drive is still on. The rest of the season includes the romance “Talley’s Folly,” the drama, “Death of a Salesman,” and the musical, “Evita.”

Season tickets are $40. By purchasing a season ticket you get four shows for the price of three. For more information on season tickets, call 377-4372.