By Peter Coke: When Dame Beatrice is given a mink stole by her maid; she is reminded of the maid's shady past and immediately suspects that is was stolen from the next flat. A former army officer and other lodgers endeavor to return the stole. The plan is devised with care and all of them take such delight in the secretive scheme that they wonder why they don't do this more often. They form a syndicate for stealing and returning furs. Everything goes well until a loss is reported and the police come charging in. The maid is horrified to discover what has been going on behind her back, but agrees to employ her talents to bail the amateurs out of trouble if they agree to never touch another fur. She succeeds, the police leave, and life returns to its humdrum ways...until someone remembers that it is only furs they had promised not to touch! "Two hours of ...moments when I was helpless with laughter." -- London Daily Mirror

All pictures supplied by Tony Eisenhower, Photographer

Leave it to the Brits to stir up the right amount of comedy in the classic "Breath of Spring" with wit, charm and logic, and bravo to local Thespians who know how to deliver it with a breezy dose of fun.

It's showing for two more weekends, now through Nov. 2, at the Poway Performing Arts Company in the Lively Center at 13250 Poway Road.

Althought the dialogue between Sheila Miller as Dame Beatrice and Lee Donnelly as Lily, the maid, gets off to a bumpy start in the first scene, humor heats up and so does their timing.

In fact, the ensemble cast's ability really shines through, as the plot thickens, thanks to Jeff Laurence as the retired brigadier, Shari Lyon as Nan, Anita Honey as Alice, Gloria Goldstein as Hattie, Mark Martin as Detective Pape and Jason Anderson as his assistant, Kemp.

Much of the play's action takes place in Dame Beatrice's London living room in 1948, where her boarders, whom she politely refers to as "guests," converge to use the phone, or chat with each other.

When Lily steals a neighbor's fur coat, because she can't resist reverting to her former livelihood as a robber, everyone pitches in with a plan to return the coat before the owners know it is missing.

With the brigadier's precise timing, all goes off without a hitch. In fact, the group gets so excited about pulling such a successful caper, they go into the fur-stealing business -- without involving Lily, who promised to go straight.

Reaching the "tea time of their life" does not limit Beatrice, her friend Alice or the boarders from devising a well-planned scheme that allows them to help the needy in a devious, and yes, illegal way.

All of a sudden the group gets a taste of being Robin Hoods -- and they like it.

Look for witty dialogue, a comedy that gets better with laughter as it unfolds, and community theater at its best.