Watching ex lovers bicker and slap each other silly may not sound like the most relaxing way to spend the evening, but Washington Shakespeare Company’s production of Noel Coward’s Private Lives makes for a surprisingly breezy, relaxing evening at the theater.

Setting helps. WSC has chosen Playbill Café’s tiny black box theater to stage the work, and between lovely set pieces and the atmospheric addition of a singing chanteuse behind a lazy veil (Barbara Papendorp), the experience may not quite whisk us away to Paris, but does a nice job creating a romantic mood — which you’d think would be shattered by the antics of the play’s signature couple, but it’s just too much fun seeing Bruce Alan Raucher and Cam Magee go at it.

The pair, as former married couple Elyot and Amanda, provide quite the dose of crackling tension. The set-up for Private Lives is knowingly implausible -– the two wind up at the same resort, on their honeymoons with new spouses. But Private Lives is much more a recreational sparring match (and sly commentary on love’s underlying layers of hostility) than it is a plot-driven piece.

Elyot and Amanda’s respective significant others, Sybil Chase (Megan Dominy) and Victor Prynne (Jeremy Lister) are much more caricatures than their counterparts –- Dominy’s job is mostly to pout and whimper, while Lister’s role is to bluster and puff his chest. But the two shine when the final scene awards them a little substance. Still, it’s hard to be particularly interested in their plight when we have Raucher’s dry wit and Papendorp’s volatile energy to contend with.

Private Lives runs through Sept. 23 at Playbill Café. Tickets are available online.