Review: FOUNDING F%!#ERS: THE STORY OF ETHAN ALLEN AND BENEDICT ARNOLD at Greater Boston Stage Company

If the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word Ticonderoga is the classic yellow number 2 pencil, then it may be time for a history lesson.

And if you’re too busy to take your pencils back to school, and maybe not the biggest stickler for accuracy, then you may want to head to Stoneham for “Founding F%!#ers: The Story of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold,” a play by Conor Casey being given its world premiere at Greater Boston Stage Company through May 18.

The latest effort from the Don Fulton New Works Project, Greater Boston Stage Company’s initiative to champion original plays and emerging voices in the American theater, the comedy is a detailed if mostly wacky look at the contentious relationship between Vermonter Ethan Allen – a major Revolutionary War figure best remembered for capturing Fort Ticonderoga – and Benedict Arnold, who helped Allen’s forces capture the Fort and who, years later, after committing treason by providing the British with the locations of American troops, was labeled a turncoat.

Under Weylin Symes’ briskly paced direction and framed by a narrator, a contemporarily garbed Will McGarrahan who, somewhat distractingly, also sometimes joins the ensemble. The production features a versatile cast including Marge Dunn as Benedict Arnold and William Johnston as Ethan Allen, in an inspired pairing of two very funny actors.

Mostly fine work is also contributed by Olivia Dumaine as Seth Warner, Jeff Mitchell as Rosie, and Jules Talbott as Burgess, with standout performances by Stewart Evan Smith as Goldfinch and Jenny S. Lee as Peggy Shippen. Lee is a whirling dervish of delight, nailing everything from wry line deliveries to spot-on physical comedy. Associate producer at Chuang Stage, Lee is fast becoming someone to watch on the Boston theater scene.

At GBSC right now, however, Lee is too often lost on a stage flooded with actors playing historic characters whose names and stories may only be remembered by history majors. Overlapping lines and some manic staging don’t help.

What does help, however, are the purpose-driven scenic design by Katy Monthei, and Deidre Gerrard’s period-appropriate and yet wonderfully over-the-top costumes. A special nod to sound designer Caroline Eng who slips in perfect evocations of everything from Broadway’s “Hamilton” to TV’s “Law & Order,” to great comedic effect.

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