'The course of true love never did run smooth' – as the Bard would have it.

On most counts, the current White Rock Players Club offering, Neil Simon's comedy drama Chapter Two scores a 10 out of 10.

It is well-acted by an attractive and highly capable cast (Dann Wilhelm, Kelten Jensen, Sam Silver and Vanessa Klein). It is well directed, by Players Club veteran Susanne de Pencier.

Charles Buettner's production is well-appointed, with an impressive box set (designed and decorated by de Pencier) and costumes, by Jacquie Alexander, and properties by Rosemary Shuster that, at the very least, evoke the 1970s period chosen by the director.

And anyone venturing to the Oceana PARC Playhouse (where the show continues its run until June 30, tickets at ) can be sure that they are in for a satisfying evening of community theatre, with solid laughs and a few pangs of relatable sadness.

So why do I feel, sadly, and in retrospect, less than 100 per cent enthralled with this version?

Was it something to do with a second night energy drop (the usual reaction after an adrenalin-fuelled opening) in which lines and business can be more drawn-out and less-spontaneous?

Was it that heavy rainfall that thundered on the venerable roof of the playhouse last Friday (a biblical deluge that served only as a prelude to Saturday morning's hailstorm) that dampened the spirits?

If that is the case, the show — as well-prepared as this version of Chapter Two is â€” will be well able to bounce back to a sparkling level by this week's performances.

However, part of the problem I sensed at Friday's show may have something to do with that indefinable factor known as chemistry.

On stage, love and lust — even believable friendship — don't happen just because it says so in the script. And while Simon's golden lines were all there in the show I saw, some of the subtext — and a necessary spark among the actors — seemed to be missing.  

That driving spark is important because Chapter Two is about second chances — even if they defy conventional logic. Without it, the evolving relationships the playwright shows us don't make a lot of sense.

The basic situation of Simon's play is that New York based writer George Schneider (Wilhelm) is still deeply grieving the loss of his wife of 12 years, while television actress Jennie (Silver) is pretty much done with romance after six years of a failed marriage.

Through the matchmaking efforts of her best friend, Faye (Klein) and his brother, slick actors' agent Leo (Jensen) the two find themselves talking, and dating, and — miracle of miracles — falling in love.

But George, while determined to move on with his life, finds he is still psychologically hamstrung by un-addressed survivor guilt, a fact that threatens to destroy his budding relationship with Jennie.

Meanwhile Leo and Faye, both feeling themselves trapped in unhappy marriages, find themselves falling into an adulterous affair.

All of the technicalities of playing out all these relationships on stage, I must note, are smoothly handled by the actors in this show.

Wilhelm is a very able player, with considerable expertise in comedic timing, and is able to tap an emotional reality in George's grief, under the surface smoothness of delivering the lines, that reminded me, in more than a few spots, of the acting presence of his former Players Club mentor, the late Scott Wheeler.

Silver, too, is very able in repartee, and comes up with a strong, assured, performance that is convincing on a number of emotional levels.

Jensen and Klein are, likewise, both appealing comedy players, with Jensen also managing to get across Leo's genuine concern for his brother, and Klein making the best of her character's neurotic uncertainties to solid humorous effect.       

But somehow, in the performance I saw, that underlying, thunderstruck, sense of the dawning of love, or infatuation — which has to propel these characters beyond all the human awkwardness and inanities of romantic interaction at which Simon excels â€” wasn't quite there.

Which is a shame, because Chapter Two is a superior Players Club product in all other respects.