The dazzling Lettice Douffet has inherited both the eccentricity and theatricality of her actress mother. Now employed as a tourist guide at a dull stately home in Wiltshire, she finds herself unable to stop embellishing its remarkable past with lurid fictional detail. When Lotte Schoen, the straightlaced lady from the preservation trust witnesses one of her glorious flights of fantasy, Lettice is sacked on the spot.
An unlikely friendship develops between the two as Lotte finds herself increasingly drawn into Lettice's world of historical romance and role playing.But their games start to spiral out of of control leading the two ladies towards terrorism and even attempted murder.
Take two of Ballarat's best loved actors and give them a play which relies almost entirely on their talents. Add the very experienced direction of Julian Oldfield, the comfortable intimacy of the Courthouse Theatre, and an experienced supporting cast, and you have the excellent entertainment of Lettice and Lovage. The beauty of old architecture and the ugliness of its modern counterpart, the history of kings and executions, and the secrets of Elizabethan cuisine, all play a part in the growing and unlikely friendship of two remarkable and very different women, the dramatic and flamboyant Lettice Douffet and the controlled and intense Charlotte Schoen. When their reconstruction of the execution of Charles I goes horribly wrong their unlikely friendship faces its greatest test and its ultimate triumph. There are virtuoso performances by both Sonia Kinnersly as Lettice and Wendy Holgate as Charlotte, bringing to life these highly original characters, and strong cameos from Haydn Vincent and Rebecca Eales. And what indeed is lovage? This is a question which will be answered on the night, together with how to serve a hedgehog at your next dinner party! Lettice and Lovage cannot be easily pigeonholed; it offers humour, drama and most of all the unfolding of characters and a friendship you will not easily forget.
