The performance exemplifies a less-is-more acting principle that some other performers in director Allison Arkell Stockman’s staging should emulate. There’s an appealing exuberance to the show, but several cast members’ busy physicality and tendency to mug register as effortful. A more restrained approach might better complement the zingy rhyming couplets in Ives’s comedy, inspired by Molière’s 1666 “The Misanthrope.”

Fortunately, Natalie Cutcher is terrific as the young widow Célimène — arch and lively, yet subtle when needed. At the salon she hosts, Célimène gossips and toys with several affected suitors, who appreciate her talent for wicked mockery. But when a brusque cynic named Frank (Drew Kopas) shows up, Célimène realizes her coquette days are over.

Kopas, who wisely eschews hamming, makes Frank a spry, eloquent presence, although more dourness in the play’s initial scenes might help his character stand out from the salon’s cheerful ninnies. The contrast is, after all, a plot point that’s key to “School for Lies,” one of several reinventions of historical French plays that Ives has done. (Shakespeare Theatre Company staged “School for Lies” in 2017.)

In the production’s second-funniest turn (after Pauli), Ryan Sellers brings flair and expert comic timing to Acaste, a wealthy nobleman who cheerfully admits to his own stupidity.

Meanwhile, feuds, rivalries and other complications entangle the salon habitues Oronte (Jacob Yeh), Philinte (Dylan Arredondo) and Eliante (Ría Simpkins). The actors embodying these characters contribute to the show’s problematic mugging, although Simpkins at least does it drolly, as when she flirts or weeps from behind her fan. Jamil Joseph leans into the pretentiousness of the courtier Clitander.

Gwen Grastorf’s embodiment of the scheming goody-goody Arsinoë is a tad stagy, but the character is still a fine foil for the quick-witted Célimène. In one of the play’s delightful rhymes, the widow derides Arsinoë’s priggishness and terrible coiffeur (an updo with varnished-looking curls).

“You mock my looks like some low harridan?” Arsinoë gripes.

“Our natures we can’t change. Our hair, we can,” Célimène retorts.

Costume designer Frank Labovitz adds zest with flashy garb that manifests the characters’ shallowness: Acaste sports a leopard-print suit and sparkly, violet vest. Sarah Reed’s drawing-room set, with its bird-patterned walls and feather chandelier, is also great fun to look at — all the more so when scattered with canapés.

The School for Lies, by David Ives, inspired by Molière’s “The Misanthrope.” Directed by Allison Arkell Stockman; lighting, Brittany Shemuga; sound, Cresent R. Haynes; props, Andrew Michael Reilly; intimacy and fight director, Jordan Stanford. About 100 minutes. Tickets: $20-45. Through May 28 at Source, 1835 14th St. NW. constellationtheatre.org.