That's the plot of The Dictator - a farce, and pretty far-fetched even for that theatrical genre. In the spring of 1904 it lasted 64 performances on Broadway, a good enough run in those days to be revived with the same cast, including John Barrymore, for another month later the same year. It had a short 1911 revival, flopped as a musical adaptation in London, and eventually faded from view for 74 years, until 2001.

That's when Cape May's East Lynne Theater Company, a professional stage group devoted to what it calls "American stage classics" or shows generally from the early part of the last century, revived it. The company - a conservator of American theater in a Shore town where conservation is key - is producing it again, as its midsummer show, which opened Wednesday.

The Dictator is a hearty relic written by Philly native Richard Harding Davis. Davis, who died in 1916, was without question the most famous journalist of his day, having come from a family of them: His mom, Rebecca, was a prolific magazine writer. His dad, Lemuel, was a top editor at The Inquirer, then at the Philadelphia Public Ledger.

Their flamboyant son worked for New York papers and became the first modern war correspondent, part of the national consciousness during the Spanish American war. He's less remembered today as a fiction writer and playwright - although he had 11 shows on Broadway, even directing one of them.

The Dictator is a showcase for Davis' firsthand knowledge of Central America and his general worldliness. It's glib, everyone is easily corrupted by money, and a subplot about a young female missionary is innocent on the surface, roiling underneath.

The play is weak by the standards of old European or modern American farce; there's not enough craziness in it. It was probably a stitch in its time, and is mildly funny now, as the East Lynne production squeezes it for what it's worth at the going rate, getting plenty of laughs as things unravel.

The cast handles things with aplomb; at some points, you can hear the sort of cracks that would make the Marx Brothers many decades later. Brad Heikes, a handsome actor who shone in the Broadway revival of Pygmalion a few seasons back, does so here, too, as the fleeing American. His sidekick, Tom Byrn, is a wink-wink collaborator in usurping power on the island.

John K. Alvarez makes a funny banana-republic general in the second half, with Clifford Rivera as his ambivalent officer. East Lynne's artistic director, Gayle Stahlhuth, is a wonderfully passionate, knife-wielding femme fatale. She also directed the production.

Too bad she had to direct it inside Cape May's First Presbyterian Church, the company's year-round playing space, which does not lend itself to solid production values for scenery or lighting. As a result, a high-energy cast is forced to run on old, low-voltage fuses.

The Dictator

Presented by East Lynne Theater Company at the First Presyterian Church of Cape May, 500 Hughes St., through Sept. 4. Cape May. Tickets: $28. Information: 609-884-5898

or www.eastlynnetheater.org.