The cast make the most of the 18th century dialogue, teasing out the double entendres - Streatfeild's comic timing with a knowing look or raise of the eyebrow is masterful. There is a running joke involving Archer singing and dancing which had the cast on the verge of corpsing at one point.

Pearce Quigly is the other scene stealer. He plays Scrub the errant husband's servant with a deadpan delivery that works as a brilliant contrast to all the animated shenanigans going on elsewhere. And he has some brilliant lines.

Mrs Sullen is an interesting character and played with a controlled sassiness by Fielding. Beneath the comedy Farquhar subtly highlights legal inequality between the sexes and paints a less rose-tinted view of marriage. The outcome of her story line is fudged slightly by Farquhar to gloss over the reality of her situation and make a happier ending.

Beaux' Stratagem takes a little while to warm up but that might be a fault of the play in taking its time to set up the various plot lines but it soon gets into its stride. You have to listen carefully sometimes to get the full richness of Farquhar's words but the reward is some gems. It's fun and often silly and an entertaining evening at the National Theatre.

It is two hours and 40 minutes including an interval and runs in rep until Sep 20.

* A note on seating. The set is three tiers so to get the best view it is better to be sat further up the rake in the stalls or in the circle. We were on the front row and sometimes had our view obscured by pieces of furniture or set.

RS/BW 6DS

Feels a bit of a cheat to revive an old one but Sam Barnett was in Bright Star with Mr W.