An Old Latin Plautine farce will never tolerate the two-thousand year transposition into modernity without a decent translation.  It was therefore refreshing to be treated to an enactment of a translation that made sense per se, without presupposing detailed knowledge of The Classics.  E. F. Watling’s version and Saul Boyer’s direction of Psuedolus: The Liar keep abreast of all the tropes of farce, rather than seeing fit only to include the smut and thrusting.

With the updating done, and the storyline predictable, all that is left is for the actors to have some fun and entertain us – and that they do.  The eponymous lead is played by a lively and bustling Chris Born, who injected plenty of pace into proceedings, though he could have cut out some of the nervous chuckles and pants of breathlessness.  Ben Brodie’s evil pimp Ballio is well-apprenticed to director Saul Boyer, adopting his tutor’s uninhibited style of performance, and Justin Blanchard’s Simo is a masterpiece of caricatured acting.  Superb physicality unites their performances into a stunning visual spectacle.

The play did ebb and flow, with some of the episodes lacking internal variation and running the risk of growing tiresome.  Some ebbs clustered towards the beginning, as the tame Peter Skidmore introduces Calidorus’ woes upon which the play is founded.  However, Nisha Emich’s accomplished Simia set up Joseph Goodman’s second appearance as Harpax near the beginning of the second half; this episode brought the best out of Brodie and Blanchard, reaching heights of tear-jerking hilarity which, due the lack of a bar at Downing’s Howard Theatre, could not be attributed to interval booze.  The closing stages lost momentum only by comparison with this climax.

Unfortunately, this show has not been very widely advertised.  The cunning publicity stunt of listing the show’s start time as 7.45am to position it at the head of this week’s CamDram entry is inspired, but otherwise there have been few fliers, and I cannot recall having seen the poster which poor Sophie Williams is credited with designing.  This oversight may leave Pseudolus reliant for an audience upon the friends and fans of the large cast, but those who attend will be treated to a pleasantly amusing romp while relaxing in some very comfy seats.