Colin McPhillamy, seen Off-Broadway in The Seafarer, will return to Irish Rep this fall to play Sir Harcourt Courtly in the company's revival of Dion Boucicault's farce, London Assurance. The cast of the Charlotte Moore-helmed production will also feature Rachel Pickup (The Roads to Home) as Lady Gay Spanker, Caroline Strang (Tiny Beautiful Things) as Grace Harkaway, and Ian Holcomb (It’s a Wonderful Life) as Young Charles Courtly.
As previously announced, the play will begin performances at Irish Rep December 6 ahead of a December 15 opening.
Rounding out the company will be Craig Wesley Divino (The Oregon Trail) as Dazzle, Meg Hennessy (The Shadow of a Gunman) as Pert, Elliot Joseph (The Conjuring 2) as Cool, Brian Keane (House of Cards) as Max Harkaway, Evan Zes (Incident at Vichy) as Mark Meddle, and Robert Zukerman (If I Forget) as Adolphus Spanker.
In London Assurance, the vain and lustful Sir Harcourt Courtley travels to Oak Hall to meet his bride-to-be, Grace Harkaway, whose hand comes with £15,000 a year. But when the beautiful and vibrant Lady Gay Spanker joins the party, Sir Harcourt becomes too enamored with her to notice that Grace is falling in love with his young son Charles, who has arrived in disguise, pursued by his creditors.
The play, which premiered in London in 1841, launched the career of the then 20-year-old Boucicault, an Irish actor and playwright known for his melodramas and sensation dramas including The Octoroon.
Performances are scheduled through January 26, 2020.
The production will feature set design by James Noone (Sunset Boulevard), costume design by Sara Jean Tosetti (West Side Story), lighting design by Michael Gottlieb (Dublin Carol), sound design by M. Florian Staab (The Dead, 1904), sound design and original music by Ryan Rumery (The O’Casey Cycle), and properties by Sven Henry Nelson (Woman and Scarecrow).
Currently on the mainstage at Irish Rep is Conor McPherson's Dublin Carol, directed by Ciarán O’Reilly. Beginning November 7, the Off-Broadway theatre will present Abbie Spallen's Pumpgirl in its downstairs theatre. Visit IrishRep.org for more information.
