There is only one trade open to a man called Posket, especially if his first name is Aeneas. He is destined to assume a lead role in a Victorian farce.

The Posket in question is the magistrate in Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's "The Magistrate." He is a man of some consequence who has just married a widow during a three-week recess from court. This would be all right, except for the fact that the good lady has lopped five years off her age in order to capture him. This simple subterfuge, in turn, would pass safely, but for the fact that she has had to reduce reduce her son's age by five years, too, in order to maintain the ruse.

Her son is the most precocious youth of 14 who ever trod the Victorian stage. He smokes, plays cards, and makes love to his piano-teacher, just as if he were 19 years old. One night he even lures his stepfather to a roisterous dinner at the Hotel des Princes, a genteel Victorian hellspot.

Who should turn up at the Hotel des Princes a few minutes later but Mrs. Posket, in search of the boy's godfather. She wants to persuade him to seal his lips on the date of the christening (which would reveal her own age). As night be suspected, the situation is fruitful; the play does not suffer from a slow plot.

All this is very entertaining. It is all nonsense, of course, but of a restrained sort. Pinero, though he does have most of the cast hiding under tables at one point, at least does not stoop to custard pies. The Victorians needed to relax at a farce now and then, but they would never have cared for Abbott and Costello.

The Brattle production is perfect. As Mr. Posket, Arthur Treacher give a very funny performance, demonstrating his flair for pantomime. Wilson Hall looks a very gay blade in an Eton jacket, as the 19- year-old 14-year-old; and Paul Ballantyne and Peter Temple make an excellent pair as Colonel Lukyn and Captain Vale. Sylvia Stone only slightly over-plays the more difficult role of Mrs. Posket only a bit too broadly.

In the hands of these people Pinero's piece does not seem dated at all. It is only necessary to imagine a poorly-played Mr. Aeneas Posket, to see how much credit they deserve for this.