If Wall Street meltdowns and plunging markets weren’t warning enough, the Washington Shakespeare Company delivers another reminder of the pitfalls of greed in its timely and stylish take on Molière’s The Miser, the story of a money-grubbing widower, Harpagon (Ian Armstrong)—who will stop at nothing to secure his fortune, even if it means misery for those closest to him.

The actors effectively use physical comedy to cast fresh light on the 17th-century story, and they really hit their stride in scenes peppered with barbed wordplay. As Harpagon’s children, Cléante and Elise, Rex Daugherty and Katie Atkinson are charming, energetic, and passionate in their quest to marry for love instead of wealth. Secondary characters Frosine (Heather Haney) and Master Jacques (Frank Britton) score big laughs with impressive timing and clever characterizations. In the title role, Armstrong is entertaining and multifaceted, but his portrayal occasionally borders on cartoonish in comparison with his castmates’ comedic control. The play itself falls short of the material’s potential, but clever staging helps.

Harpagon’s disheveled life spills into nearly every corner of the theater, with teetering stacks of flattened boxes, dingy empty bottles, and towers of old books littering the entrance to the theater, the stage, and the aisles. The cast makes the most of the cavernous space, performing scenes in front of, behind, and beside the audience. The resulting “surround sound” is effective— delightfully blurring the line between drama and reality.

Incorporating the audience into a live show can be risky, but director Akiva Fox pulls it off. Even before the performance begins, an actor in character asks for cell phones to be silenced; once the play starts, audience members are singled out mid-scene. Packaging a centuries-old work into something at once relatable and different is tricky, but WSC’s production strikes a good balance. In the process, a classic tale takes on a newly relevant message: With greed, there’s not always a bailout.