The Bliss family summer home has all the appearances of a lovely spot for the weekend. There’s the garden, the piano, teatime and laughter. But it’s really a grand set for the performance of the Bliss family psychodrama in Noel Coward’s comedy “Hay Fever.”

Mother feels old and wants to go back to her stage career. Father is working on a novel — and a bimbo. The kids are richly restless. But they are all such scathingly articulate people, that it’s nearly worth the visit with them.

Indeed, such frivolous refinement of spirit has made Coward’s 1925 play, presented this weekend at the University of Maine, a terribly funny show. There’s not much plot past the premise that each of the four Blisses has secretly invited a guest for the weekend, and the family’s unconventional and dismissive hospitality unfolds as a theatrical musical chairs of giddy emoting.

Also, the characters are fairly cardboard — more like well-dressed paper dolls than real people. Even the superficiality of the lines reveals Coward’s youthful pen. “Hay Fever” was, in fact, one of four plays the Englishman wrote in one year early in his 20s — before hits such as “Blithe Spirit” and “Private Lives.” He admitted later in his diary that he wrote “Hay Fever” in three days.

But the important part of “Hay Fever” is the eccentricity of the Bliss clan, and although few revivals of the show have been successful in the past 73 years, it’s these crazy caricatures that draw directors and actors. Several of the Maine Masque performers, under the direction of Janet Warner-Ashley, are entirely entertaining. Katharine Penniman and Matthew Vire (as the sister-and-brother team) are perfectly spoiled brats. Elaine DiFalco, as the mother Judith, takes over the stage with the splendor of a diva.

Adam Crowley and Ric Sechrest as two of the visitors are also amusing in a lively and well-fashioned way.

As a production, however, Maine Masque’s “Hay Fever” is dreadfully slow. Coward calls for long pauses in places, but, too often, they are inserted to perform a contrived bit by the maid or drawn-out dramatic effect. Here and there, the actors catch hold of the extravagance of Coward, but largely, acute pacing is missing. Plus, the performers, who have adopted British accents, sometimes garble their lines or toss them off toward the back of the stage.

Frank Booker’s scenic design is creamily ornate, and Jane Snider’s costumes are attractive and flattering — especially to the women.

What’s missing here is the repartee that moves quick, stings big and then appreciates its own cleverness (while we’re laughing, too). Even the dancers who kick up their heels before the show and during breaks move as if they could use a good cup of tea to charge them up a bit.

Maine Masque will present “Hay Fever” 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20 and 21, noon Nov. 20, and 2 p.m. Nov. 22 in Hauck Auditorium at the University of Maine. For tickets, call 581-1755.