Theater: Rake's Reform THE RECRUITING OFFICER

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THE RECRUITING OFFICER by George Farquhar

Restoration comedy is famous for its bawdry, but its bounty can be a trifle daunting. It would take a whiz in algebra to resolve all the plot equations in The Recruiting Officer, this season's second repertory offering at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The production reveals grand ambitions and a dearth of acting skills —champagne tastes on a beer income.

It is wisest to focus on the two romantic couples in the action. If the course of true love never does run smooth, it traverses some pretty funny country. The play, dating from 1706, takes place in the sleepy village of Shrewsbury. Captain Plume (Brian Murray), a recruiting officer, has come to the place to rook and hook the local lads into military service.

A rake of renown, Plume stirs the love of Silvia (Laurie Kennedy), who disguises herself in male uniform and eventually hooks him. Plume's best friend, Mr. Worthy (Frank Maraden), is led a mad matrimonial chase by a haughty heiress named Melinda, played in an impish comic vein by Laura Esterman. Bumpkins, worldlings, gulls and wits populate the evening. Toward the end of the play, it becomes evident that Plume is not a womanizing gourmand, as he pretends to the world, but a moonstruck child of sentiment who has found in the chaste but frolicsome Silvia his true heart's love. —T.E.K.