‘Lettice and Lovage’ review
‘Enlarge, enliven and enlighten’, well this performance certainly did all that.
Upon entering the Dowrick Suite the sound of Greensleeves set a historic note of 16th century England as its 6/8 time beat established a misleadingly melodious tranquility which was soon to be disturbed. A single table, desk and chair – the set did little to visually inspire the audience; however, this is the whole point of the play. It is speech and the ability to story-tell that makes a performance. Reflective of a dull and uninteresting historic house where nothing of note has ever happened, we were introduced to Miss Lettice Douffet (played by Freya Stanton). With her refreshingly vibrant costume, she starkly contrasted the dreary world she inhabits. In a cyclical sequence of tours, we saw her guide increasingly bored groups of tourists around the house. This boredom is soon swapped with curiosity and awe.
Miss Douffet takes a poetic license with the truth to create enthralling (and mostly fabricated) stories. Following twenty-two complaints she is brought before officials and dismissed on grounds of incompetence and lack of fitness to perform her job. The ‘executioner’ of her career is Charlotte Shoen. With Scout Pemberton as Miss Shoen, an unlikely friendship emerges between Lettice and Charlotte. A friendship that nearly leaves Lettice behind bars and Charlotte dead.
From the beginning of the performance, Stanton’s performance oozes confidence and a mature level of showmanship well beyond her years. As Lettice layered her stories, Stanton layered her acting skills. Her animated movement and elaborate gestures captivated the audience as we, like the admiring tourists, listened greedily for more.
Credit must be given to the director, Ellie Cumbley, who utilized the Dowrick’s thrust stage incorporating the ascending stairs to extend the stage space to create an inmate performance. Amidst the laughter, gloomy faces loitered amongst the tourists. Tom Stepien as ‘surly man’ portrayed an excellent caricature of pretentious and fact official authority interrogating the sources of Lettice’s truth. This forebodes Lettice’s later trials. From lurking in the shadows Mrs Shoen develops to occupy the plot. Pemberton’s considerate development of a complex character is to be much admired. Shoen is set up to be a dislikable figure of banal truth and legislation whom we begrudgingly learn to love. Pemberton fully appreciated this complexity and through moments of vulnerability allowed the audience to consider her fuller character.
That is not to say Miss Shoen didn’t terrify characters and audiences alike. Heather Lin as Ms Framer successfully mirrors our apprehension of Shoen. Ms Framer’s insecurity is demonstrated by Lin’s apologetic elegance in her physicality which is contrasted by moments of quenched enthusiasm as her character blunders to amuse her formidable superior.
We reach a climax of Lettice’s love of theatrics in combination with historical drama as she symbolically portrays the death of Mary, Queen of Scots. Here a nod goes to Molly Cowell who was on lighting and tech. The stage was immersed in red lights, whilst Lettice, in a red dress, red nails and red lipstick, stood proudly in defiance of authoritarian power. Although minimalistic, the lighting and sound were effectively used throughout giving precedence to the actor’s performance.
Act two begins refreshingly with Tom Haines as Bardolph – the somewhat exasperated and confused lawyer who finds himself drawn into Lettice’s world of romantics and performance. Haine’s crafted use of voice added sophistication to his performance. His range of pace, pitch and tone perfectly portrayed the frustration of a lawyer caught between facts and fiction. A stand-out moment came when he participated in the Shoen and Douffet double-act execution as the drummer. He ramped up the passion in the performance in a moment of high comedic value. Surrendering his professionalism as a lawyer, Haines’s performance evoked laughter and cackling from the audience. If performances are to be judged on audience reception the unanimous verdict of this case is guilty of endearment, charm and heavy dousing of laughter.
The performance also left audiences with deeper questions about the present day. We see two women ‘of a certain age’ deal with the feeling of ostracization in the modern world. Lettice prioritises the ‘thrilling and romantic aspects of history’ which Charlotte views as ‘gross departures from fact and truth’. Regarding contemporary issues of fake news and mass media, the question around the credibility of truth felt poignantly resonant. Additionally, the metatheatrical content of the play added deeper complexity to the performance. For a play written in 1988 by Peter Shaffer for the recently deceased Dame Maggie Smith, Cumbley’s production was a fitting tribute to one of the 21st century’s most distinguished actresses.
By Katie Bainbridge.