Lettice and Lovage

ROCOCO PEBBLES Hurley, left, plays dress-up.

Photo: Christopher Burpee

The oppressive grayness of Protestant, Parliamentarian, post-Stuart Englishness comprises the thematic backdrop of Shaffer’s late-’80s comedy, originally conceived as a vehicle for grande dame Maggie Smith. But its real subject is the unlikely friendship that springs up between two diametrically dissimilar middle-aged women, united by a shared passion for…well, passion. Hurley and Graves put on a hell of a show as this older, Anglo, alternate-universe Thelma & Louise duo.

Lettice (Hurley), an inveterate (and irresistible) fabulist, gets fired by Lotte (Graves), her strict-construction superior, for embellishing the history of venerable Fustian House, a dry-as-dust architectural “attraction,” on the tours she guides. But the drama of her exit interview so impresses closet-rebel Lotte that she tries to find her another position. Before long they’re drunkenly reenacting the executions of “spunky” pre-Georgian heroes and heroines, with predictably disastrous results.

Director Scott applies his customarily precise focus to this Redtwist production. He doesn’t lack for polished assistance: Jack Magaw and Christopher Kriz supply masterful set and sound design, respectively, and Hurley (in a flat-out marvelous performance) and Graves (in perfect pace) make the most of the verbal fireworks Shaffer, at his most generous, serves up here. Even given an intentionally overwritten third act that overplays its gambit just a bit, this is pretty much a joy from start to finish.

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