Westport Country Playhouse Opens 2017 Season with Lettuce and Lovage

Tony Award-nominated comedy “Lettice and Lovage,” written by "Amadeus" author Peter Shaffer and directed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, opens Westport Country Playhouse’s 87th season. The play runs from May 30 through June 17.

“I'm so happy that we'll be opening our season with this life-affirming and wildly funny comedy by the master playwright Peter Shaffer,” said Lamos. “Written for the actress Maggie Smith, it opened in England in 1987 and then on Broadway in 1990 and has been entertaining audiences around the world ever since.”

In “Lettice and Lovage,” Miss Lettice Douffet is a tour guide at of one of England’s historic homes. Faced with the fact that nothing of importance actually occurred in the home, Lettice uses her flamboyant style to embellish the stately mansion’s dull history with pure fantasy--much to the disapproval of her strict employer Lotte Schoen. When Lettice serves Lotte a cup of lovage, an herbal-based alcoholic drink, the two opposites develop a devilish friendship. Soon they engage in a series of capers to fight against society’s mediocrity and live up to Lettice’s motto, “Enlarge! Enliven! Enlighten!”

Performance schedule is Tuesday at 7 p.m., Wednesday at 2 and 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Special series feature Taste of Tuesday, LGBT Night OUT, Opening Night, Sunday Symposium, Open Captions, Thursday TalkBack, Together at the Table Family Dinner, Playhouse Happy Hour, and Backstage Pass. 

Westport Country Playhouse is located at 25 Powers Court, off Route 1 in Westport. For more information and to buy tickets, visit westportplayhouse.org, or call the box office at (203) 227-4177, toll-free at 1-888-927-7529.

Photo by Peter Chenot