An evening of witty dialogue, banter and laughter awaits anyone lucky enough to see Liz Lochhead’s translation of L’ecole des Femmes at the Lyceum. With an entertaining and reliable cast, the production captures your attention from its very beginning, with laughter and giggles constantly emanating from the stalls.

The story centres on Arnolphe, a wealthy bachelor who has decided to marry his young, pretty and very naïve ward. He laughs at those husbands whose wives nag, manipulate and cuckold their men, saying that he will mould his future-fiancée into the “perfect wife”. His confidence is inspiring, if completely misjudged.

Inevitably, things don’t go as Arnolphe plans. The plot is fun and whimsical, introducing us to well-rounded characters that spend their time manipulating and winding up everyone else. They seem to enjoy being onstage as much as the audience enjoys watching them, which is highlighted by the skill of Lochhead’s language and Tony Cownie’s dynamic stage direction.

The play is unusual in that instead of presenting the play in English prose, Scottish Makar Liz Lochhead has written the dialogue in rhyming couplets, in Scots tongue. This means that there are plenty of exclamations, observations and phrases that are distinctly Scottish and personal for the audience, yet Lochhead still manages to capture the essence of Moliere, infusing a distinctly Scottish flavour to the show.

The set sticks to the story’s French, seventeenth century origins, and is anaesthetically pleasing backdrop to the mad goings-on of the plot. With all of the main events happening in the town square, it reinforces the sense of a small community, where everyone knows and witnesses everyone else’s gossip.

The real success of the play is the fact that Arnolphe, while being a misogynistic, patronising and dictatorial guardian to his niece, is likeable enough to gain the audience’s sympathy as he finds himself in danger of losing the “perfect wife” he had envisioned. Yes, his ideas about marriage and women are anachronistic, infuriating and outrageous, but in the end he’s just looking for someone to love. Along the way, he kindly provides us with an entertaining and energetic show that is not likely to disappoint.