Lettice and Lovage

Lettice and Lovage is a comical and satirical play by Peter Shaffer.^[1] It is centered on a flamboyant tour guide who loves to embellish the history behind an English country house and who butts heads with a fact-conscious official at the house. The play was written specifically for Dame Maggie Smith, who originated the title role of Lettice Douffet in both the English and American runs of the production.^[2] The role of Lotte Schoen was played by Margaret Tyzack.^[3]

Following a tour of provincial theatres, the play was produced in London in 1987. Its two-year run of 768 performances at the Globe Theatre counts as one of the longer runs in London theatrical history.^[4] After a year in the West End play, Smith and Tyzack were replaced by Geraldine McEwan and Sara Kestelman.

The play was revised by Shaffer in 1988. The first American production opened on March 13, 1990, with a preview performance of the revised play at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City. The Broadway version ran from March 25, 1990 to December 23, 1990 with a total of 286 performances.

Awards

• 1990
  Tony Award
  Best Play (nominated)
• 1990
  Tony Award Best Actress in a Play: Dame Maggie Smith
  - winner
• 1990
  Tony Award Best Featured Actress in a Play: Margaret Tyzack
  - winner
• 1990
  Tony Award
  Best Direction of a Play (nominated)

Peter Shaffer describes Lettice and Lovage as a "very English piece" as far as its humor and references. He altered the ending for the American production, but not for the reason of "Americanizing" it

This version contains a significant rewrite. In the original... the two ladies were left at the end preparing to blow up a select list of modern architectural monstrosities with a petard - a medieval explosive device. This fantastic conclusion produced much laughter, but I was always aware of how assiduously it had been tacked onto the play in order to do just that. It was a forced climax, dismissing the piece into improbability... Finally the present one was born, and seemed to me both correct and pleasing... with this rewrite, Lettice prospers, and Lotte prospers with her, and their progenitor is happy.

In the introduction to his 1990 version of the play, Shaffer goes on to suppose that American audiences might not appreciate the comedic device of mocking English architecture, opining that America outranks England in their contemporary architecture and therefore would not find the issue as funny or relevant.

With the indomitable Maggie Smith in the role of Lettice, the play seemed to prosper. The New York Times review on 26 March 1990 proclaimed, "Miss Smith's personality so saturates everything around her that, like the character she plays, she instantly floods a world of gray with color". But in other productions, perhaps the overarching English tone was too much for American audiences. In the June 28, 1992 review of the same play sans Smith, The New York Times observed, "It is bizarre to observe how a play that singlemindedly renounces dullness – this is what Lettice calls 'the mere' – exudes such unshakable tedium." and "It is disillusioning to confront the defectiveness of Mr. Shaffer's construction without a star of transcendent artistry – or is it alchemy? – to hold it up." The Times also calls into question Shaffer's re-write, stating, "the third act... is a set-up for a last-minute upbeat switch, a solution for coping with the present that is inane and fake."

Lettice and Lovage was Shaffer's first comedic work in over 20 years. He had not written a comedy since 1964's

The next afternoon Lettice is shown in to Lotte's office. She defends her embellishment of the facts by stating that the House's architecture and history is too dull. Lettice says she lives her life by a code her mother taught her: "Enlarge! Enliven! Enlighten!". Lotte chafes at the discovery that Lettice's mother was an actress and sits dumbfounded at Lettice's assertions of her mother's colorful past and its influence on her. Lotte tells Lettice that she has twenty-two letters of complaint about her false recitations at Fustian House. She fires Lettice, who despairs and wonders what a woman of her age can do. She leaves the Trust, but not before telling Lotte a story about Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary had dressed herself in a red dress the day of her execution to defy her accusers. As she tells the story, Lettice drops her cloak to reveal a red nightdress.

Act two

It is ten weeks later. Lettice is in her basement flat with her cat, Felina. The apartment is adorned with theatrical posters, furniture, props, and relics. Lotte Schoen unexpectedly arrives at the flat and is dismayed by the sight of the cat, saying she has an aversion to them. Lotte then produces a letter of reference she has written for Lettice to obtain a new position giving tours on boats on the