Alan Ayckbourn’s “Relatively Speaking,” getting a spirited production at Nyack’s Elmwood Playhouse, will not change your life.

But if a midsummer diversion is in order — and when is one not? — the four-person British comedy might do the trick.

Ayckbourn, one of Britain’s most prolific contemporary playwrights, churns out comedies like Stephen King once cranked out novels, from “How the Other Half Loves” to “Absurd Person Singular” to last season’s Broadway trilogy, “The Norman Conquests.”

His first success came with “Relatively Speaking,” a play that Elmwood director Gerry Garrigan calls “pure fun, with no message whatsoever, a delicious concoction, light as a soufflé.”

Without giving too much away, “Relatively Speaking” is about a young couple and an older couple, an extra pair of slippers, mistaken identities, misunderstandings and people who are way too polite to stop and say, “Wait a minute. Who are you and what are you doing here?”

The audience is generally three steps ahead of at least one of the characters, which is a nice place to be. Watching the light dawn is part of the fun.

Kevin Nagle is Philip, the stiff-upper-lipped businessman who laughs loud, yells louder and generally doesn’t have a clue. Philip’s right out of Central Casting for those Britcoms on public television: stubborn, opinionated, pompous.

Nagle delivers on all fronts.

When he’s cornered, as we know he will be, we can see the gears spinning in his head. When he gets his comeuppance, as we know he will, it’s delicious.

This style of comedy leans heavily on characters like Philip — after all, a soufflé without hot air is an omelette — and Nagle doesn’t disappoint.

As Philip’s wife, Sheila,  Marian McCabe is clear-eyed and knowing, as solid a citizen as you’ll find. She’s polite and hospitable to a fault, and wears a look of bemusement at the proceedings.

Bridget Fenton Clark plays Ginny, a young girl in 1967, with just the right mix of whimsy and resolve. Ginny has her secrets, which makes her compelling, but she’s out to do the right thing. Clark is a match for Nagle in the watching-the-gears-spin department.

As Ginny’s boyfriend, Greg, Douglas Ward is strait-laced and pragmatic — and rightfully suspicious.

Mara-Lynne Brenner’s costumes evoke the time period: Ginny’s bright pink go-go boots and wild print dress are like a time machine.

Chantale Bordages’ set for the first scene, a plain London flat, is rather nondescript. But when the lights go out and the scene shifts — in a set change that takes a bit of time — they come back up on a country estate that drew applause from the Opening Night audience.

Garrigan rightfully keeps things moving swiftly.

“Relatively Speaking” closes Elmwood’s 62nd season, one that saw splendid productions, from “An Inspector Calls” (another British piece) to an uptempo “Hot Mikado” to “A Thousand Clowns” and “Othello.”
It also saw the loss of longtime scenic guru Bob Olson, whose genius was a fixture at the tiny theater on Park Street.

The 63rd season opens in September with “The Glass Menagerie” and includes “A Man of No Importance,” “Beau Jest,” “Rabbit Hole,” “Noises Off” and “Boy Gets Girl.”

After the soufflé of “Relatively Speaking,” that has the makings of a six-course meal.

What: “Relatively Speaking”
Where: Elmwood Playhouse, 10 Park St., Nyack.
When: Weekends through Aug. 8. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Sundays at 2 p.m. (Extra performances July 30 and Aug. 6.)
Tickets: $21; $18, seniors and students. No discounts Saturdays.
Call: 845-353-1313.
Web: elmwoodplayhouse.com

Photo by Penny Buccafuri: From left, Doug Ward as Greg; Marian McCabe as Sheila; Bridget Fenton Clark as Ginny; and Kevin Nagle as Philip.

Also this weekend
“Rhinoceros,” Mighty Theater Company presents Ionesco’s absurd classic. Tomorrow at 8 p.m. at Paramount Center for the Arts, 1008 Brown St., Peekskill. $25. 914-739-2333 or at paramountcenter.org.
“Broadway at the Movies,” a tribute to movie musicals with Rockland’s college-age performers. North Rockland High School, tonight at 7:30 and tomorrow at 2 and 7:30 p.m. $12; $8 students and seniors. (All tickets $7 tomorrow’s matinee.) 845-548-6699.
“Footloose the Musical” at Yorktown Stage. Tomorrow through Aug. 2. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. $25; $21, seniors and students; $19, children. Yorktown Stage, 1974 Commerce Street. 914-962-0606 or yorktownstage.org.
“Jesus Christ Superstar” at Croton Harmon High School. Tonight at 8 and tomorrow at 2 and 8 p.m. $15; $10 students and seniors. 36 Old Post Road South, Croton-on-Hudson. 914-271-4476. crotonteentheatre.org