THEATRE REVIEW: London Assurance, Liverpool Playhouse

Jun 4 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

A scene from London Assurance, Liverpool Playhouse _320

PERIOD comedy of manners London Assurance had a tough act to follow, taking to the Playhouse stage days after the success of Roger McGough’s adaptation of Moliere’s Tartuffe.

The 1841 play by Irish writer Dion Boucicault – who had an influence on Oscar Wilde – is, coincidentally, also about the impact a duplicitous stranger has on a well-to-do family.

In this case, it is chancer Richard Dazzle (Ken Bradshaw), whose charm brings about a coming together of parties at a Gloucestershire estate. Betrothals, betrayals, dupes and woos are all in order as the tale unfolds.

The main plot centres around the vain, but sweet Sir Harcourt Courtly (Gerard Murphy) and his plans to wed a much younger bride for a dowry. His son Charles, needless to say, falls for the no- nonsense bride-to-be Grace and an elaborate plot ensues.

It is clear to see why director Nicolai Foster chose Christopher Ryan for the part of Adolphous "Dolly" Spanker, a character similar to the put-upon characters he’s known for in Bottom.

Geraldine McNulty returned to the Liverpool stage and shone as his wife, the fantastically named Lady Gay Spanker – as deliberately funny in the 19th Century as it is today, it can be supposed, repeated calls for the character raising titters from the audience.

The first half gathered momentum nicely and the best fun was to be had when the ensemble cast were more or less together onstage. Scene setters, with just one or two characters alone, seemed a bit clunky as they spelled out what was to transpire and it was more enjoyable to observe the intricacies when the company worked as a whole.

Saying that, the intimate set looked at times almost too small.

The second half, which held promise before the interval, tied up the multiple loose ends almost clinically. And the scenes with the young lovers (Clare Corbett as feisty Grace and Laurence Mitchell as foppish Charles) went around the houses far too long, so much as to get irritating. Seeing Grace go doolally for the inferior Charles was an annoying end for a bold female character.

But still. There was always Lady Gay Spanker.

vickyanderson@dailypost.co.uk