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A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewOur American Cousin
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"Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal - you sockdolagizing old man trap!"
— Asa to Mrs Mountchessington and the last words heard by Abraham Lincoln
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Florence (Kelly Burke) Dundreary (Timothy Allsop) and Asa (Solomon Mousley) (Photo: Aoife Nally ) |
Booth knew the play and knew which line would get a big laugh and used this moment to get into the presidential box and shoot the president in the back of the head. He stabbed the president's bodyguard and then jumped down onto the stage and made his escape on horseback, despite having broken his leg in the fall. Booth was surrounded at his hideout and shot 12 days later.
So what was the play the Lincolns were watching? The president had arrived late but it was reported that he was laughing heartily. The comedy is set in England where an American cousin, Asa Trenchard (Solomon Mousley) arrives to meet his aristocratic English relatives. Sir Edward Trenchard (Andrew Macdonald) has driven the estate into debt and is at the mercy of his former agent, the dislikable Richard Coyle (Daniel York). Trenchard is offered a deal by Coyle, the debts settled providing Coyle can marry Trenchard's lovely and spirited daughter, Florence (Kelly Burke). However Florence has set her eyes on a young naval officer, Harry Vernon (Rupert Elmes).
Lord Dundreary (Timothy Allsop) is seen as a marriageable catch by the Trenchard's neighbour, Mrs Mountchessington (Maria Teresa Creasey) despite his being excessively dim and prone to muddle his proverbs like "Birds of a feather gather no moss." One of the Mountchessington daughters, Georgina feigns a fashionable, pale delicacy and repeatedly says, "I am so delicate, "while pretending that she has no appetite.
In the mid 1800s, the English actor Edward Askew Sothern was given the Dundreary part and expanded it by fooling around improvising monologues which eventually became a part of the play. The result was that Dundreary became the star and his clothing and style were copied widely. The very hairy side whiskers, but with no beard, known in England as Piccadilly Weepers were imitated and called Dundrearys in America.
Director Lydia Parker has delivered this Victorian piece at a blistering pace, with plenty of physical comedy and asides to the audience revealing that the actors are saying one thing and thinking another. Kelly Burke is animated as heroine Florence and Daniel York is a calculating villain.
Olivia Onyehara is sweet as Mary Meredith the dispossessed heiress whose father had emigrated to America and her contralto song most unexpected. Asa Trenchard's part is exaggerated with the idea that he is ignorant enough to swig out of the sherry and whisky decanters and Solomon Mousley seems a boy in a man's part.
A pianist, Erika Gundesten, accompanies the play in nineteenth century style. The simple bare wood set switches from the painting of a stag in the Trenchard's drawing room to open up in Mary's dairy.
The endings are rather too neat for modern taste but the context of Our American Cousin makes it a collector's gem.
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| Our American Cousin
Written by Tom Taylor Directed by Lydia Parker With: Julian Moore-Cook, Rupert Elmes, Andy Rashleigh, Kelly Burke, Timothy Allsop. Daniel York, Lily Howkins, Andrew McDonald, Maria Teresa Creasey, Hannah Britland, Solomon Mousley, Olivia Onyehara Set Designer: Maira Vazeou Costume Designer: Hannah Taylor Lighting: Jack Weir Musical Director: Erika Gundesen Running time: Two hours 20 minutes with an interval Box Office: 0844 847 1652 Booking to 14th April 2015 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 30th March 2015 performance at the Finborough, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED(Tube: Earls Court) |
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