Brian Tree on Dion Boucicault
A Canadian actor appreciates the frothy wit of this Irish playwright.
Canadian actor Brian Tree plays Adolphus "Dolly" Spanker in London Assurance by Dion Boucicault at the Stratford Festival of Canada. Here's what she has to say about the experience: "When you read the script, you think there's nothing here at all. It ain't Oscar Wilde; it ain't Noel Coward, and that was a huge stumbling block initially, we thought. It wasn't until opening night or previews that we realized we had a comedy here.
"Someone said to me the other day – he saw the show – that I cannot think of a better way to waste two hours. He meant that as a compliment, and he laughed at something for two hours that was frivolous. He won't be tossing and turning at three o'clock in the morning thinking .. when so and so did that .. what did it mean?? It's in one ear and almost right out the other for those two hours," he says.
"There is an oddity about some of Boucicault's stuff," Tree continues. "It's a great fun script, we all have those lines where we can't wait to get there, and that's always the way with a comedy when you know it works. But we didn't know it worked until we had an audience. With someone like Noel Coward, one does more often, you know. It's built in. But with this guy, we were not too sure about it. With Brian Bedford [playing the lead role], it is the perfect excuse to say, "Here I am. Aren't I lovely? Aren't I wonderful?" – a legitimate tongue-in-cheek excuse to do all of this, of course.
"I wish I could sit out there and watch it. Fire me and get someone else to play my part!"
Dion Boucicault's London Assurance continues at the Stratford Festival's Avon Theatre to October 21.
