Main House, Southwark Playhouse - 6 September 2011 - 1 October 2011

Cast

Marc Baylis

Gina Beck

Holly Blair

Cassandra Bond

Jackie Clune

Samuel Dent

Tim Dorsett

Mark Fountain

Jeremy Joyce

Michael Lindall

Christopher Logan

Joseph Macnab

Nigel Munson

Hannah Spearritt

Maggie Steed

Robin Soanes

★★★★ ''Theatrical enterprise like this makes you proud to be British.' The Times

★★★★ 'Witty, spirited and eminently revivable' The Guardian

★★★★ 'Jessica Swale’s ebullient and handsomely presented production' What's On Stage

★★★★ The Independent, Time Out (Critics' Choice), The Evening Standard

Hannah Cowley’s The Belle’s Stratagem, one of the greatest hits of the Georgian stage is given its first major London revival in this production.

In a time when women were second-class citizens, a group of wily women are determined to get their own way…

When, beautiful Letitia Hardy’s betrothed returns from the Grand Tour convinced that English women are dull, she sets out to gain his love with an ingenious scheme to prove him wrong.

Meanwhile, the jealous Sir George Touchwood arrives in town with his new wife, Lady Frances, in tow. It’s not long before two of London’s most rambunctious wits, Miss Ogle and Mrs Rackett, make it their mission to convert her into a lady of fashion.