Some men are born great. Some have greatness thrust upon them. Billy Bishop, Canadian flying ace of World War I, falls into the latter category. By virtue of his warfare accomplishment of shooting down 72 enemy aircraft, seven of which he took down singlehandedly, Bishop became a Canadian hero.

If you can get past those rather horrific stats, then the play “Billy Bishop Goes to War,” which opens tonight at Penobscot Theatre, is a rollicking good time — something akin to the frenetic rush of a computer game, with the added pleasure of live performers.

Written by John Gray in collaboration with Eric Peterson, “Billy Bishop” is a two-man, musical adaptation of the journals of Bishop, the Ontario-born ne’er-do-well who became the most successful Allied ace of the war. His superiors managed to harness properly his death-defying, thrill-seeking personality and make him into a hero for a country struggling to find an authentic place in international politics. Uncultured and colonial though he was, Bishop was simply unstoppable in the air.

Actor David Colacci, who has played Bishop intermittently for 10 years, has that same unflappable stamina. He doesn’t perform the piece; he attacks it — climbing onto furniture, buzzing a model plane through the air, and somehow evoking that strange combination of death and excitement. Although he can be a bit precious with some of his delivery, he is generally entertaining with his high-pitched performance.

Colacci gets soulful support at the piano and in bit parts from Stephen McLaughlin, who makes his local debut as an instrumentalist. In addition to accompaniment, McLaughlin provides sound effects and a rich singing voice that nicely complement Colacci’s somewhat nasally sound.

Director Lisa Tromovitch is the first in recent times to put up a show with an evenly talented cast. Plus she’s clearly sensitive to the ironies of the heroism in this play. Just when the raucous action starts to make it look like war is swell, she brings it all back down to a question she cogently poses in the program notes: Is it worth it? Even if Bishop isn’t a compelling hero, the play is, indeed, worth it.

“Billy Bishop Goes to War” will be performed 7 p.m. Nov. 18; 8 p.m. Nov. 5 and 26; 8:30 p.m. Nov. 6 and 27; 2 p.m. Nov. 7 and 21; and 5 p.m. Nov. 20 at Penobscot Theatre. For tickets, call 942-3333.