When it comes to the exploration of neglected British plays, this tiny Richmond theatre leaves the National standing. Now, after a number of Edwardian discoveries, Sam Walters has come up with a once-famous play from 1792 by Thomas Holcroft - a pivotal member of a radical group that welcomed the French Revolution and that was indicted for high treason in 1794.
Clearly Holcroft saved his radicalism for his politics since this play, delightful as it is, turns out to be a variation on a traditional theme: the reconciliation of a prodigal son and his tyrannical-seeming father. You could, just about, see the play as a pre-Marxist work on the malign influence of the cash-nexus since the hero, Harry Dornton, is prepared to marry a rich widow, Mrs Warren, in order to save his father's bank from financial ruin.
But the real interest lies in a father-son relationship drawn both from Holcroft's life and Sheridan's plays. Old Mr Dornton, beautifully played by Terrence Hardiman, is torn between explosive condemnation of his wastrel son and uncontrollable affection. Ed Stoppard makes Harry a benevolent rake who throws himself at the absurdly coquettish widow for the sake of her £50,000. It is very much a symptom of late 18th-century drama that, while amorous old women are a subject of mockery, the relationship between father and son is seen as sacrosanct.
The fascinating thing about Holcroft is that his virtues are a by-product of his vices: his play has far too many plot-strands, but that allows him to introduce a wealth of richly drawn minor characters. The widow Warren, spiritedly endowed by Auriol Smith with a bright-eyed omnivorousness, is hotly pursued by an inveterate gamester whom John Paul Connolly brilliantly turns into a staccato Irish forerunner of Mr Jingle. Thomas Wheatley as Mr Sulky, a cautious banker, and David Gooderson as Mr Silky, a sanctimonious moneylender, embody the good and bad faces of mercantile capitalism. But this is not the Serious Money of its day. It is a sentimental comedy about fathers and sons, and one that eminently justifies revival.
· Until October 12. Box office: 020-8940 3633.
