Acadia breathes new life into old comedy

In Oliver Goldsmith’s 224-year-old play “She Stoops to Conquer,” the practical joke rules. Mistaken identities, misinformation and a bit of drunken debauchery are the comedic tricks of Goldsmith’s 18th-century day. It’s a style of well-crafted, twisty-turny dupery-with-a-moral that still manages to make us laugh all these many years later.

Thanks to director Wayne Loui, “She Stoops to Conquer” has reappeared at Acadia Repertory Theatre to tickle us once again. Last month, Loui presented a lackluster production of “The Innocents,” but the amusement of the current show more than makes up for that. “She Stoops to Conquer” is an elegant, rowdy set of hoaxes, and the cast takes up the cartoonery with serious conviviality. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find another troupe of actors whose hospitable warmth toward the audience is more congenial.

The story itself has that bonhomie spirit about it, too. A comedy of the upper-crust sexes, “She Stoops to Conquer” introduces Kate Hardcastle, a lovely young woman whose suitor, Young Marlow, is hopelessly shy with well-bred girls and passionately forward with barmaids. Best to just let go of the sexual politics in that little maneuver and watch, instead, as Kate stoops to the level of servant to win over her man.

In the meantime, the subplot of an arranged engagement between Kate’s half brother, Tony, and their cousin, Constance, is churning with discontent. Constance wants to marry Hastings, Marlow’s best friend, but she doesn’t want to risk losing her rightful inheritance by doing so. Tony has other plans, too, and they don’t involve any of his mother’s controlling agendas.

The central gimmick in the play is perpetrated by Tony, who misleads Marlow and Hastings into thinking that the Hardcastle home is an inn. The two visitors set about making arrogant fools of themselves in front of their most honorable host, Mr. Hardcastle, a curmudgeonly gentleman who is forced to stomp about in befuddlement over the state of youthful impudence.

Consequently, the Hardcastle household is a bit of a hilarious mess. You can guess how it all works out, but getting there with this warm-blooded group is a much more satisfying way to go.

The gentry in this cast pull back just short of buffoonery — a wise decision. Alan Gallant, as Young Marlow, is superbly flowery without ever compromising the good sense and stature of his character. Opposite him, Leslie Smith is a cool and keen Kate, who is encouraged by a perceptive father, played with wry intelligence by Stephen McLaughlin. Her mother is a dotty manipulator, brought boisterously into living color by Kathleen Lake.

Laura Anne Hodos, as Constance, is vividly funny. Her real lover is played by the boyish Doug Rainey, and her intended husband, Tony, is the artful and jocular Jonathan Mirin.

The servants — James Hayward, Joseph Lewis and Nkomo Morris — are filled with antics that are endearingly silly and, in one scene, are very nearly as nitwitted as Monty Python. Ken Stack, Acadia’s artistic director, makes a big last-minute appearance as the elder Marlow, and has some of his own priceless capers — the least of which is not the garish hat he wears.

Marilee Larchese’s fanciful costumes add opulence to Stack’s modest stage of benches, high-back chairs and other easily shifted set pieces. Of particular note are the decorations fastened to Mrs. Hardcastle’s towering wig.

Occasionally, the language and, to a disappointing extent, the British accents may be difficult to follow. But “She Stoops to Conquer” is a winning show that, in the words of Samuel Johnson (to whom the play is dedicated), has a way of “making an audience merry.”

“She Stoops to Conquer” will be performed 8:15 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday through Aug. 9, and 2 p.m. Aug. 10 at Acadia Repertory Theatre in Somesville. The show will run again Sept. 2-7. For information, call 244-7260.