Lettice and Lovage: A Comedy

by Peter Shaffer

Lettice Duffet, 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 Schon, 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, conventionial Lotte in battle to the death of all that is sacred to the Empire and the crown.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Humor, Drama, Fiction, British Literature, Comedy

100 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Sir Peter Levin Shaffer was an English dramatist, author of numerous award-winning plays, several of which have been filmed.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sh...

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was reminded of the existence of this play in a recent casual conversation with my BFF - we saw it together wayyyyy back in 1990, on Broadway with the iconic Maggie Smith and her equally formidable costar, Margaret Tyzack, in their Tony Award-winning roles. I remembered it fondly, but in rereading it, what I was remembering were the exquisite performances - the play itself is rather ... pedestrian. I am afraid it would be quite dreary without the actress for whom it was specifically written - which is undoubtedly why it is rarely revived these days. That, and the fact it requires three ornate and intricate sets, which would render it unfeasible to produce for most companies. Not to mention the live cat!! :-O!

As per usual, NYT critic Frank Rich is on the nose in his review of it: https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/26/th....

[Berna Ece Gündüz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggie Smith deyince akan sular duruyor sahiden de. Lettice, sen harikasın bebeğim.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this years ago when I was in a Readers Theater group. It was a hilarious experience then, and reading it again now brought back many fun moments. I would have loved to see Maggie Smith play the part of Lettice. In fact, the play was originally written for her!

[Naz · Rating 5 out of 5]

canan hocam seni çok seviyorum çok tatlışsın

[Maho · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mix of facts and fabrications in a work of fiction cannot really be performed any better. We are not only reminded of the modern individual’s factualist attitude towards life, without the use of imagination so as to fill it in when we could ,and its backlashes, but we are also shown how rich our boring lives would be, only if we tried.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun play I think I'd like to direct. Can totally picture Maggie Smith saying Lettice's lines.

[Sandi Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this play. It is wonderful and hilarious. I greatly regret that I will never get to see Maggie Smith perform it live!

[Duygu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play has the same taste with Amadeus. It is surrounded by art. The ecstatic behaviors of Lettice make it even more Shakespearean.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolute joy, entirely helped by my vintage copy, having a photograph of Maggie Smith in the role of Lettice on the front cover.(Found on a very enjoyable rainy afternoon squirreling around a second hand bookshop and coming away with many juicy book nuts like this) .I heard her voice in my reading mind throughout and it brought the words to life magnificently.

A very witty play, as much about a fading generation as an entertaining eccentric. Sadly one flaw in that generation is their casual racism, and although it is authentic to Lettice, it did make me cringe a little.(one star knocked off) This can be countered by the fact that, although he doesn't appear, in the writing it is clear Mr Pachmani is well aware of what he is dealing with and easily able to defend himself.

I like to think that although it was written in the 80s, there are still a few wonderful old characters like this living happily bonkers lives in London basements or populating the various special interest museums speckled around the country.

[Lucile Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

70. Lettice and Lovage by Peter Schaffer
A fun play and I would really like to see the movie with Maggie Smith as Lettice. I read the original British version; a new ending was written for the American stage in 1990. Lettice, an impoverished gentlewoman of the 1970s is living hand to mouth. Brought up by an obviously mad actress, (“Enlarge! Enliven! Enlighten! was her motto), she has an imaginative grasp of history, which gets her into trouble when she is a tour guide. She is fired by Lotte Schoen at the end of act One. Lotte has a change of heart and comes to Lettice’s flat with an offer of employment on a Thames tour boat. The two women form a friendship. Things go wrong during a theatrical performance and Lettice is being charged with the attempted murder of Lotte. Can their friendship withstand this?

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lettice & Lovage is a simple play about simple people on a wild, enchanting journey over the elaborate history of Europe.

That was my feeble attempt on being theatrical and eccentric like Lettice Douffet. I fail in comparison to Ms. Douffet.

I read this play back in 2014 and it always stuck with me. The second time around was just as good. It was funny, lighthearted, and made me have fun as I tried out different voices for each of the characters. Fun fact, it starred Maggie Smith (Lettice Douffet) and Margaret Tyzack (Lotte Schoen), and Maggie Smith received a Tony for her performance. You can hear Maggie Smith as you read this play... One of the stars may have been for Maggie Smith...

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've ever been a docent at a museum or historical site, you will love this book. Docents are trained to deliver accurate information. But, repeating the same, scripted presentation over and over, day after day, year after year can sometimes lead to boredom. So, how do you challenge yourself to keep your audience interested, even when sometimes you are not? And, putting the shoe on the other foot, if you like going to museums, historical homes, etc., this enchanting book will bring a new perspective to your experiences.

[Anthony Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a charmingly silly play, a gift for two great female actors, nicely contrasted as irrepressible fantasist and an increasingly persuadable hard-nosed pragmatist.

If 'Amadeus' is a study of the terrors that can afflict someone who suddenly understands he is merely mediocre, in this play Shaffer examines someone who cannot tolerate a life of 'mereness'. The former play is tragic, this one comic.

That's about it, really. It's good for a giggle.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is fun, and these kind of female characters, especially the daffy but admirable Lettice, are a rare joy to find, laugh out loud funny but still meaty roles for women. Anyone who enjoys historical tours but sometimes cringes at the sloppy history, cliched phrases, or blandness of the tour guides, this is a must read.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful stage comedy about the fiery friendship of two eccentric middle-aged women who find common ground hating modern architecture. Not laugh-out-loud funny on the page per se, but warm and winning, with a particularly delightful final beat that according to Shaffer’s introduction, he rewrote after the original production. Good move, Mr. Shaffer!

[scarlettraces · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. Amusing in parts but the basic concept feels dated (and I personally don't agree, a well-balanced modernist building is as satisfying as a whimsical Tudor one, and certainly more interesting than yet another Georgian terrace).

[John Geddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t quite speak to me. Cute play, but it definitely feels like one that rides on the casting of the main two women instead of the script really standing on its own.

3w/2m, light ensemble. Multiple locations so likely the the impression of a set.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful play. I saw a taping of it at the New York Public Library Billy Rose Theatre Collection of Maggie Smith playing Lettice and it was hilarious. Any time I want a lift I pick up this play.

[Can · Rating 4 out of 5]

ooky kooky very much kook lettice

[Rumeysa · Rating 4 out of 5]

finalde bayanların yapmaya karar verdiği şeyi ben de yapsam izmir'de maksimum beş tane falan bina ayakta kalır

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A discussion about how overbearing lovage can be in a small garden brought this play to mind, and so began a search for a copy.

Written with Maggie Smith in mind to play Lettice, made it just perfect because, as I read the play, I saw Maggie Smith and heard her voice. What fun!

It took a while to make the lovage connection and I thought it might have to do with Lettice's talent for expanding upon the facts as she conducted her manor tours. But it was something quite different and actually elevated lovage to a more desirable level. We've only used it as a celery leaf type of garden herb, but there are more interesting culinary uses than that. So, the lovage keeps its place in the garden after all.

It's an easy play to read, with just a few characters,
and might be a treat for a book group to read aloud.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly 2 older women talking and re-imagining England's past. Maybe reader's theater? Senior players?

[Savanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wild ride…. uhmmmmmm anyways

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a play script, so it should be seen in performance, not read, to be appreciated fully.
But what a wild pair of women leading characters!
What a role for Maggie Smith! Outrageous!

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining sequence of relatable absurdities. Two women spar and connect over dramatic storytelling, strange history, and ugly architecture.

[genny · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is like the story of you and the girl you hate for no reason in the beginning of the high school and suddenly you become best friends for life and match each other’s freaks. yes. this is what lettice and lotte are to me.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quaint little play about the quirkiness and idiosyncrasies of regular people.

Would absolutely go see it in person.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would love to see this play - especially if Maggie Smith was playing Lettice! I'm not sure that, to me, the end followed on from what had come before, but I enjoyed reading it very much.

Spoilers follow.
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According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lettice_...) there is a different ending than the version I read...

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."

[...]

Lettice stops [Lotte] with a heartfelt speech about how the technological, modern age is leaving her behind. Lotte storms back in, outraged at Lettice "giving up". They make up, and decide to re-invent E.N.D., only without bombs. They plan to give tours at the "fifty ugliest new buildings in London", using Lotte's architectural knowledge and Lettice's flair for the dramatic (and propensity for lying). The play ends with the two women toasting the audience.

[Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter Shaffer (of Amadeus and Equus fame) writes a comedy. Again, like the other two plays mentioned, it is primarily a two person play. Much like those plays, it deals with the malleability of the human spirit.

Unlike those plays, it is meant to be lighter and stars two WOMEN. Unlike those plays, it takes into account some of the strangeness of the two characters and lets them find a happy resolution. That's the point.

If only it was funnier! That is my one complaint. But still, it was a fun read and something that was a nice change for Shaffer's works. I'm needing to reread Royal Hunt Of The Sun now, just to remind myself of its premise and who the main folk are. Still, a play that I would gladly see live.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute! I loved the friendship and unpredictable nature of the play. The enthusiasm and life which is portrayed through dialogue in Lettice and Lovage is very clear and the plot is simple yet meaningful.

The friendship that develops between Lettice and Lotte is full of mischief and persuasion, petty arguments and enthusiastic storytelling.

5 out of 5 stars to this play, I thoroughly enjoyed and will be performing a monologue from scene 1 in a few months.