The Stage

London Assurance

Published Thursday 11 March 2010 at 12:30 by John Thaxter

When, exactly 40 years ago, the RSC rediscovered this rumbustious romp of London opportunists in search of rustic romance, it seemed as if they had invented a new playwright to fill the gap in Irish comedy between Sheridan and Wilde. Astonishingly, its mid-Victorian author Dion Boucicault was barely 20 when he shaped his ‘prentice piece as a throwback to Restoration theatre.

Simon Russell Beale (Sir Harcourt Courtly) and Fiona Shaw (Lady Gay Spanker) in London Assurance at the Olivier, National Theatre Photo: Tristram Kenton

With constant scene changes and large cast demands, the play has since had few revivals. Happily, director Nicholas Hytner, together with designer Mark Thompson, has assembled sumptuous settings and a fine ensemble to match the broad comic reputation of the play, but with deftly observed character delineation, as Londoners pit their town-bred assurance against the Gloucestershire gentry.

None more so than Simon Russell Beale in brilliant form as Sir Harcourt Courtly, a fading fop, a camp Humpty Dumpty with a head of borrowed hair in hot pursuit of the rich but very young heiress Grace. Instead he ends up on his knees, attempting to seduce Lady Gay Spanker, a cigar-puffing, chuckling horsewoman, portrayed in side-saddle gowns and with over the top finesse by Fiona Shaw - although her trousered, high-booted image looks more the part for the production poster.

Upcoming star Paul Ready, with all the charm of a stage Hugh Grant, blends bashful romance with quick-witted comedy as Courtly’s wayward son Charles in superbly sustained scenes, as he and Michelle Terry’s Grace hilariously struggle to resolve their burgeoning affair against the strictures of social etiquette.

Other delights include Richard Briers as a trembling geriatric in thrall to his wife Lady Spanker, Tony Jayawardena as a hit and run attorney with a price tag for any bit of advice he gives, Matt Cross as the aptly named chancer Dazzle and a superb cameo by Nick Sampson as an upper-crust Jeevesian valet who perfectly sets the tone of the evening.