'Saucy' comedy London Assurance is up next at Titchfield Festival Theatre

Sir Harcourt Courtly is lured away from the epicentre of fashionable London by the promise of a rich and beautiful bride, Grace, several decades his junior. Arriving at Oak Hall, Gloucestershire, he marvels at this rural Venus until her charms are eclipsed by her hearty cousin, the fox hunting Lady Gay Spanker. Meanwhile his disguised son turns up in flight from his creditors and falls head over heels for Grace.

When Lady Spanker discovers the young couple, she needs little prompting from the visiting chancer Dazzle to lead Sir Harcourt astray.

TFT’s artistic director Kevin Fraser is directing the show: ‘London Assurance is pure comedy genius. The language is very easy to understand but it will also push our actors to ensure they enunciate the words so they come alive off the page.

‘The play is to a degree very Fawlty Towers and Keeping Up Appearances, and with character names like Lady Gay Spanker, Pert, and Meddle the imagination runs wild with comedy.

‘We have kept the play pretty faithful to the original script. I had been looking for a good strong comedy in the vein of Oscar Wilde and came across another Irish writer Dion Boucicault. He really is a precursor to Wilde. The play was a huge success and Dion was equally an interesting character as Oscar. London Assurance really is an exquisite comedy and is a real corker of a show!’

London Assurance runs from July 12 to 22 at Titchfield Festival Theatre. Go to titchfieldfestivaltheatre.com.