Peter Shaffer's 'Lettice and Lovage' comes to Anna Maria Island
Peter Shaffer is one the greatest playwrights in the English language, but he's known for dramas, including the bleak "Equus" and the fictionalized Mozart biography "Amadeus," which won the Tony Award for Best Play. The movie version also won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Shaffer has made a few forays into comedy, the most recent and most well-known being 1987's "Lettice and Lovage." It's next up from the Island Players in Anna Maria.
The story revolves around Lettice Douffet, a flamboyant tour guide who embellishes the legend surrounding an English country house. However, a fact-loving official is not amused by Lettice's freewheeling history lessons. The play's humor and themes, which include a mocking of contemporary English architecture, have been both praised and criticized for being very British.
The Island players cast includes Caroline Cox, Judi King, Heiko Knipfelberg, Susan Belvo, Bruce Witton, Judy Keenan, Daniel Coppinger, Brad French and Bruce Witton.
The play was a hit in London in 1987, and a few years later on Broadway. Critics cited Maggie Smith's performance as Lettice as the major high point.
Shaffer was unsatisfied with his own original ending and re-wrote it for the Broadway version, and that ending is now much more frequently staged.
Details: March 24-April 10, Island Players, 10009 Gulf Drive, Anna Maria. Show times: 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $20. Information: 941-778-5755, theislandplayers.org.
-- Marty Clear
This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Peter Shaffer's 'Lettice and Lovage' comes to Anna Maria Island ."