Parody of a Parody

By Gina Mallet

LONDON ASSURANCE

by DION BOUCICAULT Directed by RONALD EYRE

Why should anyone revive this creaky play, the hit of the London stage in 1841? In the chronology of the English comedy of manners, Anglo-Irish Dion Boucicault flounders between the astringency of Sheridan and the epigrams of Wilde. Yet he took a romantic's delight in character. London Assurance is peopled with enough eccentrics to fill the portmanteau of a Victorian novel. Welding this strength to the polished ensemble skills of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Adapter-Director Ronald Eyre has transformed an old chestnut into a parody of what is already a near parody of Restoration comedy.

Laid bare, the plot itself could close the play fast. An aging and broke London fop, Sir Harcourt Courtly, plans to marry a country miss, Grace Harkaway, for her money. But before he can get Grace to the altar, his dashing and disobedient son Charles falls in love with her. He arranges to draw off Sir Harcourt with a fresh scent, the county's hardest rider to hounds, Lady Gay Spanker. Naturally the proceedings are hampered by a covey of long-winded subplotters, plus every other known theatrical device, all of which Eyre has the gall to retain only to dispose of them with affectionate derision. Grace's pretty speeches are greeted with yawns, a tender love scene is made ridiculous by farcical staging, and the whole cast takes turns shamelessly mugging in asides to the audience. As the faded beau, Donald Sinden transparently masks an egoist's will of steel with extravagant slapstick. He is matched by the Grace of Polly Adams, who makes what could have been a most tiresome ingenue into a bright and funny human being. sbGina Mallet

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