UNREAD COPY that has had a long life on attic shelf -- binding not cracked, pages tight & unmarked but there is some page edge tanning from age. Harper & Row, ppbk. 1988
LETTICE AND LOVAGE -- a comedy by Peter Shaffer
LETTICE AND LOVAGE --- Lettice Duffet, an expert on Elizabethan cuisine and medieval weaponry, is an indefatigable but daffy enthusiast of history and the theatre. As a tour guide at Fustian House, one of the least stately of London's stately homes, she theatrically embellishes its historical past, ultimately coming up on the radar of Lotte Schon, an inspector from the Preservation Trust. Neither impressed or entertained by Lettice's freewheeling history lessons, Schon fires her. Not one however, to go without a fight, Lettice engages the stoic, conventionial Lotte in battle to the death of all that is sacred to the Empire and the crown. This hit by the author of Equus and Amadeus featured a triumphant award-winning performance by Dame Maggie Smith in London and on Broadway.
Enlarge 2nd photo for review quotes.
Peter Levin Shaffer was born in Liverpool, England on May 15, 1926. He received a degree in history from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1950. He wrote a mystery novel entitled How Doth the Little Crocodile? with his fraternal twin Anthony Shaffer. It was published under the joint pseudonym Peter Anthony as were several more mystery novels. Peter Shaffer's first play, The Salt Land, was produced on television by the BBC in 1954. His first Broadway play Five Finger Exercise opened in 1959 and was adapted into a movie. His other Broadway plays included The Private Ear, The Public Eye, Black Comedy, White Lies, and Lettice and Lovage. His plays Equus and Amadeus both won Tony awards and were adapted into movies. He won an Academy Award for his film adaptation of Amadeus. His play The Royal Hunt of the Sun was also adapted into a movie. He was knighted in 2001. He died on June 6, 2016 at the age of 90.