The Nonentites Society - Main House (A)
Lettice Douffet, an expert on Elizabethan cuisine and medieval weaponry, is an indefatigable but daffy enthusiast of history and the theatre.
As a tour guide at Fustian House, one of the least stately of London's stately homes, she theatrically embellishes its historical past, ultimately coming up on the radar of Lotte Schoen,
an inspector from the Preservation Trust.
Neither impressed or entertained by Lettice's freewheeling history lessons, Schon fires her. Not one however, to go without a fight, Lettice engages the stoic, conventional Lotte in battle to the death of all that is sacred to the Empire and the crown.
Peter Shaffer wrote this play with Dame Maggie Smith in mind to play the flamboyant Lettice a thwarted thespian who finds herself as a tour guide where she treats a stately home as her stage and as her performances grow ever more grandiose, she is drawn the attention of the manager, Lotte, who is quite the polar opposite in everything she says and does.
First performed in 1987 it ran for over 700 performances and when in 1990 it was revised from Broadway it swept the board in Tonys that year.
It should come as little surprise that Dame Maggie won an Olivier award in 1987 and Tony 1990 for Best Actress and whilst we can’t promise you Dame Maggie, Felicity Kendall or Maureen Lipman who have all starred in this show at one time or another, you can rest assured that you will see a performance of this highest quality and on a par with anything else we have achieved this season, including the brilliant Mindgame, about which the critic from Behind The Arras www.behndthearras.co.uk said ‘There are times when the only difference between amateur and professional theatre is whether the actors get paid and as productions go this would not look out of place on any professional stage’.
The play tells a story of the strange friendship that develops between the two, despite their differences and will warm your heart on a cold February evening.
There is intrigue, drama and an abundance of laughs is Shaffer’s cleverly script work.
Curtain Up 7:30pm Standard Ticket Prices
Running time 2h 30m (incl. 20 min interval)
February 2024
