With the month of St. Patrick upon us, North County theatres are offering up a couple of plays of Irish interest. New Village Arts’ “Dancing at Lughnasa” (reviewed here), with its hardscrabble rural setting and melancholy air, may be seen as the more obviously Irish of the two. Let us not forget, though, that illustrious Irishman George Bernard Shaw, whose plays often poked fun at the stiff-necked society of Victorian England, his adopted country. Shaw’s seldom-seen “You Never Can Tell” is Moonlight’s final offering of the season, and despite a minor casting foible or two, it’s a witty, well-executed production currently on the boards at the Avo Playhouse in Vista.

Tom Zohar, Jim Chovick and Rachael VanWormer

Copyright©2008 Ken Jacques

Moonlight seems to be the only theatre around town lately to take a stab at the oft-difficult works of Shaw, having staged his early comedy, “Arms and the Man,” so well just a few seasons back. This time around, actor Jason Heil makes a fine local directorial debut with Shaw’s lesser-known 1897 comedy, “You Never Can Tell.”

Set in 1896, “You Never Can Tell” is the story of an unexpected family reunion on the English coast. Mrs. Clandon and her three children, Gloria, Philip, and Dolly, have just returned to England from Madeira after an 18-year absence. There, they encounter the young dentist Valentine, whose crotchety old landlord, Mr. Crampton, may or may not be the children’s father, and a kindly, elderly waiter named Walter who repeatedly dispenses the titular musing, “you never can tell.”

Veterans Jill Drexler and Jim Chovick are amusing as the elders Clandon and Crampton, and Danny Campbell makes a most welcome appearance as the family solicitor, McComas, who longs for the newly returned Mrs. Clandon.

It’s the younger set, though, that make the biggest impressions in Heil’s production. Jason Maddy, who is usually found on local stages showing off a very strong singing voice, here demonstrates his comic mettle in a non-musical play as the “five-shilling ivory snatcher” Valentine. His romantic sparring with the lovely Christy Yael as Gloria serves as a vehicle for many of Shaw’s pointed observations on feminism and 19^th-century sexual politics.

Christy Yael and Jason Maddy

Copyright©2008 Ken Jacques

As 18-year-old twins Dolly and Philip, however, Rachael VanWormer and Tom Zohar practically walk away with the play. The pair’s hyper-affected antics inject the proceedings with a bigger dose of caffeine than afternoon and high teas combined, as they gaily misbehave at the expense of their elders and the upper classes of “London society” (especially in Jeanne Reith’s Act IV black-and-white Harlequin costumes).

Walter Ritter is all suave elegance as the knowing, wise waiter. Somehow, though, the idea that John Garcia could pass for his barrister son, Bohun, seems a far-fetched one, even in a comedy of errors like “You Never Can Tell.”

Donald Lee McKee and Annelise Threlkeld round out the cast in smaller roles.

Designer Mike Buckley’s set recreates a Victorian dentist’s office and a hotel room, and the lighting (by Paul A. Canaletti, Jr.) is unobtrusive. One might wish for a sunnier, warmer look for Act II – this is England, yes, but a seaside terrace on an August afternoon, after all.

Though weather being the unpredictable beast that it is, well…as Walter would say, “you never can tell.”

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