Eleanor Holdridge has found a brilliant way to adapt and direct Susanna Centlivre’s 1705 comedy of manners “The Basset Table” for the Folger Theatre. First, she renamed the play “The Gaming Table,” because today basset is not a familiar card game. Then she updated the language somewhat, adding a prologue and epilogue by David Grimm, making the play more accessible. Most important, she set an upbeat pace for her extraordinarily talented actors, allowing them to create a lively vehicle for Centlivre’s philosophy, which saw women as intelligent, independent and at least the equals of men.

Set in London when upper-class men and women wore massive wigs and elaborate clothes, “The Gaming Table” focuses on the romances of three central couples. Lady Reveller (Julie Jesneck) is the widow at whose home card games are held and fortunes are lost every night. Lord Worthy (Marcus Kyd) desperately loves Lady Reveller but hates her way of life.