Harriet O'Carroll's adaptation of one of Moliere's lesser works - Les Foubieres de Scapin - has translated the play to Limerick, and no harm in that, since its roots lie in the author's experiences in provincial France more than in his metropolitan successes in Paris. And Terry Devlin's colourful production for the Island Theatre Company is charged with great physical energy by vigorous liveliness in the performances of an enthusiastic cast of actors wholly committed to the enterprise.
Octavio Corrigan has, in his father's absence, married his beloved Hyacinth, only to discover that Dad's plan was for him to wed the daughter of Geronte O'Shaughnessy from Cork. The O'Shaughnessy's servant, Sylvester, who was to watch out for Octavio during Dad's absence, will have to suffer the consequences of this departure from Geronte's plans. And then there is the problem of Leander's dalliance with Zerbinetta (she of uncertain origins from the sheep farmers). And the man to resolve all the romantic problems is Scapin, the servant whose escapades need to include some component of revenge against the masters whose autocratic carelessness has helped to create the detritus they expect him to clear up.
The plot hardly matters except insofar as it requires an enormous effort from the audience to suspend disbelief. Mr Devlin's effort to overcome this dramatic problem is vested in a staging that smacks more of pantomime than drama and is manifest very effectively in Dolores Lyne's setting and Jacquie Fitzpatrick's exotic (but period-perfect) costumes. Even when the jokes are not funny, everything signals that the audience is supposed to laugh, and that, very often, they do. And references to quite anachronistic 20th-century tribunal revelations do nothing to dispel the sense of seasonal pantomime.
In the Belltable until April 1st. Booking on: 061-319866. Touring until May 20th to Listowel, Kilmallock, Tallaght, Monaghan, Waterford, Mullingar, Armagh, Longford, Coleraine, Derry, Letterkenny, Sligo, Glenamaddy, Clifden, Clonbur and Portlaoise.