The Two Gentlemen of Verona - Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford
This is one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies. It is rarely performed. These are two ways of implying that it's not one of his best.
And for the first few minutes, as this young RSC cast gabble through the wordplay, with puns that haven't been funny since 1594, you fear the worst. Then, thanks to some deft direction by Simon Godwin, it suddenly comes right.
Michael Marcus looks great as a passionate and principled Valentine. Mark Arends does well in the challenging role of Valentine's bosom mate Proteus who ditches his own girlfriend and decides to betray Valentine for love of the lithe and lissome Silvia (Sarah Macrae) in about 10 seconds flat.
The plot may be improbable and the ending brutally abrupt but it's still a little gem with some fine encounters and some thoroughly modern gags.
It's even got that Elizabethan essential you may remember from the film Shakespeare in Love, a dog. Mossop the lurcher, already a veteran of Casualty, The Tudors, Mr Turner and the Aldi advert, plays Crab and holds the audience enchanted. What a star.
When his owner Launce (Roger Morlidge) tells the audience how Crab breaks wind under the table and pees on ladies dresses, and we all laugh, you realise some aspects of English humour haven't changed much since 1594.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona is at Stratford until September 4.
By Peter Rhodes
