THEATER REVIEW : A Skewed Look at Love : Uneven acting detracts from the overall humor of Sheridan’s ‘The Rivals,’ shifted to a 1904 setting.

STUDIO CITY — “The Rivals” was Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s first successful comedy and, while it doesn’t compare in style, wit or invention to his masterpiece, “The School for Scandal,” it’s a worthy romp.

Cobbled together from an unproduced play by Sheridan’s late playwright mother and incidents from a minor romantic intrigue Sheridan was recovering from, “Rivals” contains all the mistaken identities and skewed perspectives on love that were typical of the late 18th Century. And its matronly dimwit Mrs. Malaprop added a useful word to our language.

Director Christine Ashworth, at the Lionstar Theatre, has chosen to place the action of the comedy in 1904 instead of the 18th Century, and it’s a valid, if arbitrary, concept. Mores in insular British high society were not that much different at the turn of the century, and A. Jeffrey Schoenberg’s Edwardian costumes are period enough for Sheridan’s shenanigans.

Ashworth bounces the action along at a brisk clip, and adds a few visual gags that fit right in, such as Joseph Foss’ gay valet David impetuously and lustfully hugging his master, the dashing but bumbling Bob Acres (Jeffrey Paul Whitman), and turning around to hug just as rapturously the romantic hero of the piece, Carl J. Pfeifer’s Captain Absolute. It’s a touch more to the taste of 1904 than a century and a half earlier.

The contrast between the performances of Whitman and Pfeifer explain the energetic and giddy production’s basic flaw. Sheridan wrote the comedy in, and there is danger in a production adding “funny” elements to the playwright’s superior humor. Whitman’s Bob Acres is properly loud, boisterous and rambunctious, but he has drawn a believable character based in reality. Pfeifer has not found a center yet, flounders from one attitude to another for no apparent reason, and depends on grimaces and a flashing smile.

Judith Ann Levitt has the same problems as Mrs. Malaprop, a vague portrait that doesn’t always match itself from moment to moment. She wants to be the tyrannical aunt, but at the same time wants not to be the character’s age. And in a cast generally at home with the necessary accents, Levitt seems to have found only Dame Edith Evans’ famous Lady Bracknell delivery, which is out of kilter with her swooning postures and coy glances.

Along with Whitman’s Acres, good performances by Gary B. Lamb as a deliciously weak-kneed Faulkland, and Dana Craig as a marvelously controlled and pompous Sir Anthony Absolute stand out. Lisa Melville’s feisty Lydia Languish, Zoe Benston’s prim but bubbling Julia, and Elizabeth Tobias’ crafty Lucy are all very good, too. Rajan Dosaj’s Indian valet has some funny moments, but Frank Novak’s Sir Lucius O’Trigger is too weighted down by an unchewable accent and posturing.

Where and When

What: “The Rivals.”

Location: Lionstar Theatre, 12655 Ventura Blvd., Studio City.

Hours: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 6 p.m. Sunday. Ends Dec. 18.

Price: $7.

Call: (310) 289-8515.