London Assurance - a Timeless Comedy Farce

Esther Riggs as Lady Gay Spanker and Graham Buckingham-Underhill as Max Harkaway.. Photo by Robert Warner

London Assurance, directed by Christine Carpenter at the Talisman Theatre and Arts Centre, Monday 30 September - Saturday 5 October 2024

Review by Ashley Hayward

The cast and crew at the Talisman certainly do justice to this splendid comedy originally written in 1841 by Dion Boucicault but cleverly updated by Richard Bean.

The plot concerns the cultured, flamboyant, 57 year old Sir Harcourt Courtly as he leaves London for Gloucestershire to marry his young fiancée Grace Harkaway. However his plans are thwarted by the arrival in disguise of his dissolute son, Charles, who also takes a fancy to Grace and enlists the help of the wonderfully named Lady Gay Spanker to seduce his father.

Adam Turner as Charles Courtly and Paul Sully as Richard Dazzle. Photo by Robert Warner.

What follows is an absolutely superb farce involving a highly unlikely love triangle and performed by a very talented cast.

Hugh Sorrill stars as the pompous fop, Sir Harcourt, strutting around the stage like a proud peacock delivering the beautifully written script with considerable gusto. My favourite of his many lines came when he explained how his previous wife and left him for his best friend and then added how much he missed him!

Adam Turner convincingly portrays his decadent son, Charles, ably assisted by Paul Sully as his equally dissolute companion, Richard Dazzle, whose characterisation was very reminiscent of the Artful Dodger!

A talented cast throughout. Photo by Robert Warner.

Esther Riggs gives an immensely enjoyable interpretation of the horse riding, crop wielding, virago, Lady Gay, well supported by Neil Vallance as her downtrodden, subservient husband, Adolphus Dolly.

There are excellent performances from the entire cast and, under the skilful direction of Christine Carpenter, the play moves rapidly along with the audience appreciating the timeless humour and larger than life characters.

The original script may have been written in the nineteenth century but the gags, chaotic situations and social satire have definitely stood the test of time.

A unique feature of the performance is the way in which the cast express their thoughts by addressing the audience. They all do this superbly and remain in character throughout.

Paige Phelps as Grace Harkaway with Charles (Adam Turner) and Hugh Sorrill as Sir Harcourt. Photo by Robert Warner.

The set and colourful costumes certainly captured the Regency period and one of the highlights to me were the very slick, well-choreographed scene changes accompanied by diverse modern music with appropriate lyrics from a range of artists including Blur, Del Shannon and The Dubliners!

If you like farce with its highly unlikely and complicated situations, mistaken identities and ‘over the top’ characters you’ll definitely enjoy this production – of that, you have my assurance!

For tickets go to: https://talismantheatre.co.uk/