SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE FEATURE:

The Globe/USD professional actor training program has now staged the West Coast premiere of Behn's "Sir Patient Fancy" in an entertaining, opulently costumed production directed by Brendon Fox and running through Sunday.

The actors are MFA students; many appeared in the Globe Shakespeare Festival this summer. Most do well in the high-style antics of the two families Behn intertwines in a daisy chain of disguises, mistaken identities and assignations.

The Sir Patient of the title, for instance, is a Puritan left over from the Commonwealth, a naive spoilsport who's married a younger second wife playing him for a fool. Actor Matt Gaydos brings him to robust life, suggesting his joyless exterior is just that, a layer any human with appetites wishes stripped away. There's also a remarkable female character, Lady Knowell, heading the family next door; Carolyn Stone plays her with imperious relish and a dry wit.
Behn's comedy unfolds with the intricate plotting and scenic sweep of a novel. It's long, too – three hours, despite cutting and tweaking by veteran Globe dramaturg Dakin Matthews. Still, it's a welcome rarity, and fancy fun, as Fox maneuvers his love-starved couples, accompanied by spritely period music and dancing.

photo: J.T. McMillin