Restoration comedy is a representation of the exuberance, enthusiasm and liberation of its times and BOVTS cast embodied these qualities in their performance of Farquhar’s The Beaux Stratagem at the Cornerstone on Friday. They brought joy and enthusiasm to the stage and this was evident through their choice of modern pop music to highlight the ironies of the play, the inventive fervour of the opening off-stage plea to switch off mobiles, to the mock Benny Hill pursuit scene at the end of the first half.

The cast had also embraced the principles of the a theatre company on the road as shown by the simple “on tour” back drop, the use of costume baskets as the only props and scenery, the use of the cast as stage crew and the doubling-up of roles. There was great rapport between the players making for a convincing ensemble performance and during the evening this affinity extended to include an eager and ebullient audience. Amongst the ensemble for me the stand out performance was Dylan Wood as Archer, as bent as a cork screw in his pursuit of an honest relationship. He mastered James Blunt’s “Your Beautiful”, used ironically as the play’s love theme, and engaged and enthralled the audience, particularly in his interaction with the lady in the front row with the very dirty laugh.

Of course the play is all wrapped up in the flummery of Restoration Comedy – the plot is littered with strained sub plots involving priests, highwaymen and maids on the make and the whole cast pulled together to drive this action along incorporating many humorous elements most notably Jessica Nicklin’s intentionally appalling French/Irish accent which I imagine is very difficult to achieve like Les Dawson playing the piano badly and Jac Cooper as a prancing highwayman and an hilarious Venus de Milo. The entire cast demonstrated great comic timing essential to the pace and effectiveness of the play, none more so than Alexander Hall as the servant Scrub.

The novelties of Farquhar’s play – women actors and a heroine who is divorced – no longer retain their shock value for the modern audience but many of the issues so humorously raised in the play still have pertinence today and this was strongly demonstrated by the use of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” at the opening of the second half of the play, preceding the heroine’s plea for liberation from her unhappy marriage. The central characters and theme of the play – two conmen and their get rich quick strategy – are of course pertinent today and these ideas are played with, questioned and ultimately subverted during this performance. The play itself demands little willing suspension of disbelief from the audience but recognition of the “types” being played (rakes, rich heiresses, greedy servants etc.), a healthy recognition of the characters’ fears and foibles and encouragement in their trials and tribulations. During this performance not only did the cast walk the fine line between refinement and burlesque and deliver in spades but their efforts were also warmly reciprocated by an enthusiastic audience capturing something of the exuberance and delight of the original performances of Restoration Theatre. I was highly amused and thoroughly entertained and recommend the rushing along to the box office for tickets for the remaining two performances of this tour.