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If George W. Bush were still President, Felicity (Laura Benanti) would most likely be "sleeping with the enemy" in Christopher Durang's roaringly funny Why Torture is Wrong, and The People Who Love Them, which opened at the Public Theater last night.

Felicity, you see, wakes up one morning, after a really bad drunk to find that she's married Zamir (Amir Arison), a guy who won't tell her what he does for a living, insists that he's "Irish" and has a really short fuse when it comes to his temper. Felicity learns early on not to mention "annulment" for instance. Felicity's concerns about the marriage she's made and Zamir's quick rise to anger both pale in comparison, though, to the way that Leonard (Richard Poe), reacts when he meets Zamir. Leonard's got a gun pulled on Zamir within moments of their introduction, and Leonard's pretty sure that Zamir must be a terrorist, so much so that he has to call in a couple of friends to help him uncover the truth about the young man.

It's a setup for loopy fun and Durang uses it as a springboard to comically comment not only on post-9/11 shadow government tactics, but also far-flung topics like the state of theater in New York: Felicity's mom Luella (Kristine Nielsen) is forever pestering her daughter about what shows her daughter has seen while spiraling into reveries about her friends' and her own theatergoing experiences.

Under the expertly breezy direction of Nicholas Martin, Durang's play whirls (literally thanks to David Korins' ingeniously conceived series of realistic sets) to the point of bordering on chaos, but never to the point of being abjectly out-of-control. Benanti, known primarily for her work in Broadway musicals, grounds the piece beautifully as the sweet, yet somehow strong-willed, Felicity. As her hastily chosen husband, Arison navigates the line between comic menace and downright creepiness with aplomb.

Poe and Nielsen are both delights as Felicity's parents. He manages to channel the warmth of his hero Robert Young (in "Father Knows Best" mode) and the sort of deranged zeal that one associates with performers like Dennis Hopper. Nielsen, behind a veneer of glazed eyes and cheery disposition, reveals ever-so-gently, Luella's despair and fear in both her marriage and the events unfolding around her, which include an appearance by the minister (a glee-inducing John Pankow) who officiated at Felicity's hasty wedding and surprise visits from Hildegarde (Audrie Neenan), a colleague of Leonard's who carries a none-too-subtle torch for him.

Certain excesses of the script (a visual joke about women's panties is carried too far) and some changes in the rules-of-engagement (David Aaron Baker's role as narrator morphs unexpectedly and jarringly) in this lark on the war on terror detract from the piece, which has the potential to be both as cutting and funny as such Durang classics as The Marriage of Bette and Boo. Nevertheless, this is an airy romp for spring that blissfully skewers paranoid fears about terrorism and the sorts of behavior they inspire.

---- Andy Propst

Why Torture Is Wrong, and The People Who Love Them plays at the Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street). Performances are Tuesday at 7pm; Wednesday through Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2 and 8pm and Sunday at 2 and7pm. Tickets are $60-$70 and can be purchased by calling 212-967-7555 or by visiting www.PublicTheater.org.