With London Assurance, Irish playwright Dion Boucicault created a celebrated comic play that has survived the generations and appears once again on a London stage, this time at the prestigious National Theatre, were it will grace the Olivier stage of the Southbank venue.
Originally performed at Covent Garden in 1841, “London Assurance” is a play that features classic comedy characters and a captivating plot of intermingling stories and love triangles. The first of these celebrated characters is Sir Harcourt Courtley, who lives in a large upmarket London home and is lured away from this location with the promise of a young bride called Grace. However, when he arrives at his destination, it is not Grace he falls for but her fox-hunting cousin Lady Gay Spanker. But the arrival of Courtley’s disguised son means that not all is lost for Grace; the man was originally fleeing from creditors but may now have found the woman of his dreams.
Boucicault was a celebrated playwright during a time when Dickens was penning his own classic works. As well as “London Assurance”, he created plays such as “The Bastille”, “The Corsican Brothers”, “The Vampire”, “The Octoroon or Life in Louisiana”, “The Colleen Bawn or The Brides of Garryowen” and “The Shaughraun”.
When this production was originally staged it featured some well known actors of the time and in 2010 this will be no different. When the show opens on the Olivier stage of the National Theatre it will feature national treasure Richard Briers alongside a regular of the Southbank venue Fiona Shaw as well as Simon Russell Beale and Michelle Terry.
Briers almost appeared in the Duchess Theatre’s “Endgame” in 2009, announcing the project as his final stage performance. However, he eventually pulled out of the production and though it is not certain if “London Assurance” is his last stage appearance, it will still be a wonderful opportunity to witness a celebrated actor inside a prestigious venue. The iconic actor has made a career from television shows like “The Good Life” and “If You See God, Tell Him”.
Meanwhile, Fiona Shaw has appeared in numerous stage production across various decades in the capital, with “As You Like It” (1984), “Hedda Gabler” (1991) and “Medea” (2000) appearing right up to her most recent appearance in “Mother Courage and Her Children” at the NT in 2009.
London Assurance appears at the Olivier National Theatre from Wednesday 10th March 2010 (previews from Tuesday 2nd March 2010) until Thursday 3rd June 2010.