Fun with a Mexican nun

House of Desires is the work of a 17th century Mexican nun, and it's one of those plays in which a group of lovers endures a series of comic misunderstandings involving veils, duels and irate patriarchs - until they're all paired off and free to end the evening with a song in praise of Hymen.

Making her RSC debut, director Nancy Meckler has instructed her cast to play the piece as whoopdedo farce, encouraging them to wink at the audience, issue gasps of cartoon astonishment and milk Catherine Boyle's translation for every laugh it contains - and quite a few, I suspect, that it doesn't.

The performances are pantomime-broad. The master of the house, Don Pedro (William Buckhurst), is so uptight he can't pick up a glass of wine without hurling it straight into his face. (The gag is a steal from Airplane, but it works).

His sister, Dona Ana (Claire Cox), sounds like a docker gobbing into a tin bucket whenever she pronounces the name of her beloved, Don Juan. The long-suffering servant Castano (Simon Trinder, straight out of Royston Vasey) gets a 10-minute front-of-cloth routine which includes audience participation, lipstick and a tight-laced corset.

The result is sometimes annoyingly self-conscious. (Any actor who feels he has to convey romantic ardour by falling on his back and flapping about like a salmon needs, I think, to ask himself a few hard questions.)

But when the fooling is pursued with precision and discipline, it is snortingly funny. Lord only knows, though, what the running-time will be by the end of the season, when Meckler will not be around to curb the excesses of her cast.

An indulgent audience will have a ball - but they may have to choose between Hymen and the last bus home.

Until 21 March. Information: 0870 060 6631.

House Of Desires (RSC Spanish Golden Age)