Mrs. Hardcastle (played by Mackenzi Von Holten) is distraught over the loss of her jewels, but her son, Tony (Matthew Hogan), is amused because he knows where they are. The scene is from Valdosta State University Theatre & Dance’s ‘She Stoops to Conquer,’ which opens a week’s run tonight.

VALDOSTA — Look past the costumes, the accents, the men wearing wigs, the creation date of 1773 and “She Stoops to Conquer” isn’t much different from modern comedies.

Mistaken identities, people pretending to be people they are not, “high comedy, low comedy, farce and romantic comedy,” as Jacque Wheeler, director of the Valdosta State University Theatre & Dance production of the show opening tonight, said.

“She Stoops to Conquer” is a precursor to the comedies which audiences enjoy today.

Irish playwright Oliver Goldsmith called his play a “laughing comedy.”

He subtitled it “The Mistakes of a Night,” which sounds like the potential name of a Hollywood comedy that could open on American movie screens on any given 21st century weekend.

In her director’s notes, Wheeler explained that “She Stoops to Conquer” has inspired and serves as an example of various comedy forms.

 “It includes elements of romantic comedy in the tradition of (Shakespeare’s) ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’ — young people fall in love and do foolish things,” Wheeler writes. “Comedy of manners as a precursor to Oscar Wilde’s ‘Importance of Being Earnest’ — people try to imitate the manners of the upper class and do foolish things, and farce in the tradition of the Commedia dell’Arte — characters perform broad physical action and do foolish things.”

Throughout, the theme of mistaken identities — those “mistakes of a night” run rampant.

“Much of the action of the play hinges on the classical comic device of mistaken identity,” Wheeler writes. “The true identity of several characters is not revealed initially …”

Mistaken identity is a device that has deep roots in theatre and continues to this day from television sitcoms to Hollywood movies.

People appearing to be something other than what they are and people wrongly assuming someone is something they are not have been constant theatrical and storytelling devices from the ancient Greeks to the digital age.

“She Stoops to Conquer” is the type of play rife with possibilities for filmmakers looking to update an old play for new audiences — think the 1999 teen movie “Ten Things I Hate About You,” which was a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.”

But that’s not what is happening this week with “She Stoops to Conquer.” VSU Theatre & Dance plans to present a 1773 play that should prove funny to a 2014 audience — with the costumes, the accents and, yes, the men in wigs.

THE CAST: Tyrell Ruffin, Ethan Parker, Matt Tito, Vaughn Stevens, Matthew Hogan, Michael McClain, Mackenzi VonHolten, Larren Woodward, Diamond D’Ozia, Jenna DeBlasio, Richelle Hart, Josh Barcol, Ethan Glass, Regina George, Wendell Hester, Nic Baggarley, Kailah Gordon, Alyssa Blair, James Burch, Lizzy McCullers, Haley Aguero, Travis Hunnewell, Kenya DeLouis, Andrea Mora, Alexandria Thomas, Ryan Stillings.

SHOWTIME

Valdosta State University Theatre & Dance presents “She Stoops to Conquer”

When: 7:30 p.m. today, Friday, Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

Where: Sawyer Theatre, VSU Fine Arts Building, corner of Oak and Brookwood.

More information: Call (229) 333-5973; or visit www.valdosta.edu/comarts