badinage

Rather, it was the thrust-and-parry of the pair, their gently barbed, whipsmart badinage, that made Nichols and May so revolutionary, their routines about sexual politics and social mores riding a knife’s edge.

His badinage is hardly Wildean, but his put-downs, honed to the sharpness of stilettos, are many people’s idea of fun.

Cue a medley of exquisite tomfoolery, featuring bawdy badinage, dubious love-poems, mistaken identity, visual gags, a chaotic play-within-a-play and lots of linguistic whimsy.

Usually that high gloss means Hare is up to some undermining; in plays like “Plenty,” “The Judas Kiss” and “Skylight,” good badinage almost always means bad faith.

But also present are Heyer’s wry humor and deftness in witty badinage.