All the world's a stage in John O'Keeffe's good-natured 1791 comedy, which reopens Bristol's restored gem of a Georgian theatre. There are few plays that invoke the spirit of Shakespeare quite so warmly as this tale of Jack Rover (Sam Alexander), a strolling player fond of quoting the Bard, who masquerades as a gentleman and falls into the arms of an heiress (Jo Herbert). She has come under the influence of the hypocritical Quaker, Ephraim Smooth (Philip Bird), who loathes everything to do with the theatre. There is a lovely moment when Smooth tosses a copy of Rover's beloved As You Like It to the ground. "Trample on Shakespeare!" screeches Rover, with the outrage of one who has had his holy book desecrated.
The play – and Mark Rosenblatt's revival, which updates the action to the 1950s – are at their best when they are celebrating the wonder of theatre and the transformations of the heart, even if the plot is hardly a model of compactness. It involves a runaway son who has taken up with travelling players, a mislaid child and husband, a greedy farmer, a pantomime villain bailiff and an old sea dog whose wild oats are belatedly sprouting.
Rosenblatt doesn't quite keep control as the confusions multiply, and is inclined to overlay the play's natural comedy with touches of his own. Some, such as Rover's defeat of a foe by mime, are sublime silliness; others fall flat – the motorcycle comic capers make it hard to get a grip on the narrative in the crucial opening moments.
Although the production doesn't find its rhythm until the second half, it always looks good in Ben Stones' simple stage-within-a-stage design, and Alexander's Rover is a warm presence, almost a dashing one. It's such a genial play that it's impossible not to smile, even if this revival is not quite the riotous romp O'Keeffe's work deserves.
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