The Belle’s Stratagem

You’re invited to a masquerade, courtesy of Hannah Cowley’s The Belle’s Stratagem! Meet Letitia Hardy (sister in spirit to Shakespeare’s Rosalind), who is not about to settle for any old conventional arranged marriage. She’s madly in love with Doricourt, the man she has been promised to, but wants him to be equally infatuated with her. To this end, Letitia plans a bold deception — to have love as she likes it. Written in 1780 by a widely-acclaimed woman playwright, this effervescent comedy of manners shimmers with the wit and panache of its better known brethren, The School for Scandal and She Stoops to Conquer. Directed by Davis McCallum.