For those familiar with Shakespeare's comedy, in which sadness is the dominant emotion and love is more unrequited than rewarded, Michael Boyd's production excels in unexpected places.
The heat generated by Jonjo O'Neill's Orlando and Katy Stephens as the disguised Rosalind is less than molten. And when Orlando falls for a man who is in fact the woman he loves, it is not the heart-stopping world-shifting moment we want it to be.
But the sterile court from which Stephens's Rosalind is banished and from which Mariah Gale's ardent Celia runs, is superbly evoked by the courtiers and their pitiless Duke, who walk in tight, intimidating unison. And Geoffrey Rushwater brings a moving, quiet dignity to the role of the hardworking, exploited shepherd Corin. He also supplies the evening's moment of realism, by beheading and skinning two (already dead) rabbits onstage.
More conventionally, Forbes Masson is everything you could hope for as the melancholic Jaques. He sings like an angel; poses like a rock star; sulks like a manic-depressive and has the comic timing of a stand-up. And he alone is worth the price of a ticket.