Now running at Old Academy Playhouse, "The Exes" by Lenore Skomal is a busy 2019 satire that tries to emulate the high-society divorce comedies of the 1950s. But apart from burlesque situations, there is little of this genre's trademark banter and playful humor. 

Richard Killingworth is a ruthless venture capitalist. In his latest scam, he invested in a genetically engineered boutonniere, which he calls "bouton-ever" because the bud never wilts. In one of the play's many subplots, Richard is now pursued by the angry florists he has bilked. 

Both Richard and Dick Wright were married to the same woman. Mavis divorced Dick to marry millionaire Richard, then abandoned Richard on Christmas Eve. The strength of the men's friendship is tested when "Hurricane" Mavis suddenly turns up to demand that Richard sign divorce papers so she can marry her Danish lover in Copenhagen. Got all that?

The complications are just beginning. All action takes place in Richard's Boston penthouse apartment. Director Norman G. Burnosky, Jr. creates a set that suggests luxury while, more importantly, giving his cast ample room to thrash around. The actors need the space because every character in "The Exes" is visibly upset. 

After Marvis intrudes, a second crisis takes center stage. Victoria, Richard's pampered daughter from a previous marriage, enters the scene. This is her wedding day, but Victoria is in tears because her future husband refuses to sign the prenuptial agreement. As Victoria, Emmie Ledesma gushes emotion as she splits her time, pleading with father Richard, then raging at disloyal stepmother Mavis.  

Minor characters flesh out the domestic turmoil. Garrett is the 25-year-old son of Dick and Mavis. Eric Tuller portrays a young man who flounders amid family conflicts. Garrett has slummed through eight years of college. His sole cheer is to joyride his stepfather's BMW.

Garrett does take solace in talking to Prim. Jay Steinberg is comically dour as the English-born butler who sniffs at the family's lack of decorum. Prim's anger in learning that he is termed an "asset" in Richard's proposed divorce papers is the turning point that pushes the play to its conclusion. 

Marcel Nistlerood, the Danish lover, ducks under the family roof to punctuate the end of Act One. Played by Norman Burnosky 3d, Marcel injects buffoonish humor into the show. He also stands out as the only character in the room with uncomplicated good will. 

"The Exes" gets away with cardboard characters. Its main problem is Skomal's lack of the Noel Coward-type gaiety you have come to expect from this comedy genre. Running gags prevail. Ignorant Americans confuse Copenhagen with Amsterdam. Character names are coy puns – Killingworth, Prim. Low humor stands in for wit, as when Dick says the two exes are not both Richards. "He's Richard, I'm a Dick."

The staging of the wedding scene is the show's saving grace. An exhausted Garrett returns home to describe the scene to butler Prim. For several minutes, actors pose in arrested movements on a darkened stage beneath the flashing strobe lights of Light Designer Steve Hnatko. 

In dramatic tableau-vivant fashion, the cast re-enacts the chaos when Mavis and Marcel crash the wedding party. The play can then segue into its final scene, where Richard realizes that his world of acquisition in which people are treated as property is kaput.  

Virginia Kaufmann has presence as Mavis Killingworth, the only multi-dimensional character in the play. When confronting Richard, Mavis is a strutting forceful woman who needs to own the room, alternately fretful and scoffing. But when Victoria arrives, Mavis becomes meek as she asks for forgiveness. The two moods are so disjointed Mavis can sometimes feel like two different women.

Mike Boorse and Stephen Negro are comical as the two exes, Richard and Dick. But unlike Mavis, you have little sense of their inner reality. You do not know if you believe the ironic blossoming of their relationship at the play's end because the script gives scant backstory. You know a little about Richard; you don't know anything about Dick. 

"The Exes" is an overblown one-act play that needs to proceed to the wedding scene more quickly. For example, the show could reduce the number of times characters traipse over to the sidebar to liquor up. It must happen 20 times. Even butler Prim gives in. How often must we see a character thus say, "I'm really upset."

Strained humor puts a comic gloss on what is, surreptitiously, a preachy drama with a feminist focus. Richard Killingworth is not the real central character, after all. The actual central character is Mavis Killingworth, who, in rapid succession and in her floozy way, teaches three inauthentic men that they need to grow up.

Old Academy Players is located at 3544 Indian Queen Lane. "The Exes" will run through Feb. 26. Tickets at 215-843-1109.