‘Bare-chested and raunchy” was my description in a review of Gerard Murphy and Hugh Quarshie — the latter a former star of the Oxford student stage — as love-rival brothers in the Swan Theatre’s opening production of William Shakespeare and John Fletcher’s Two Noble Kinsmen. Twenty-five years on, the same might be said of Alex Hassell and Oliver Rix (pictured) as they flaunt their pecs in Cardenio, the first major play being staged in the Swan since the transformation of the RSC’s Stratford base. Again they are competing for the hand of a maiden — though as best mates this time rather than siblings — and once more the work is by Shakespeare and Fletcher.

And, in addition, by other writers too numerous to mention here, Cardenio being a ‘reimagining’, as it’s described, of a lost play. From the point of view of any prospective audience member all that is is necessary to know is that it works extremely well. As is usually the case with Gregory Doran’s direction, we are offered a production that’s enchanting to the eye and ear (design Niki Turner, music Paul Englishby), with the colours and passions of Spain brought vividly to life.

In a very impressive professional debut, former Oxford actor Rix does a splendid job in the title role. Hired to be a good influence on Fernando, the wastrel son of the Duke of Aguilar (Christopher Ettridge), Cardenio rashly permits the rake (gleefully presented in all his lechery by Hassell) to meet his long-term love, the comely Luscinda (Lucy Briggs-Owen).

Fernando develops a mad obsession for the girl, leading eventually to a horrifying enforced wedding to her, assisted by her social-climbing father (Nicholas Day). Meanwhile, Cardenio, driven literally mad by events, flees to the mountains, where he wanders in tattered shreds of clothing in the manner of Edgar in King Lear. There he meets, among others — and now disguised as a boy — the farmer’s daughter Dorotea (Pippa Nixon) whose virtual rape by Fernando is one of a number of truly shocking moments in the drama.

Up till that point the tone of the play has been largely comic, thus rendering the abrupt change of mood the more startling when it occurs.

Eventually, the story comes to be happily resolved in scenes of reconciliation reminiscent of those in Shakespeare’s later plays. In this, vital roles are taken by Fernando’s ‘sensible’ elder brother Pedro (Simeon Moore) and members of the older generation. These include, besides the fathers already mentioned, Cardenio’s proud and gallant old dad Don Camillo who is portrayed, by Christopher Godwin, in one of the most enjoyable performances of this very entertaining production.

Continues until October 6. Tickets: www.rsc.org.uk) or 0844 800 1110.