I confess that ever since I was a wee theater student, I’ve always been a bit ‘meh’ to farces, to plays not of my century (save Chekov,) to stuffy Britsh plays, etc. BUT: I now think, or rather know, that I was completely wrong. I think it’s just that I never really SAW them, was only forced to read them. I saw London Assurance at the National yesterday, with the Incredible Simon Russell Beale prancing about in plum colored waist coats, doing this hillarious ballet- leg pointing thing, rouged and lipsticked. It was hillarious. Hillarious. But beyond that, it was seriously beautiful. For the first time ever, I heard / saw this perfectly time comedy balanced with these really beautiful words, this emotional weight. I felt so wrong, in the best way possible. Oh, England, even though you call shrimp prawns, which makes them sound like weird bugs that grow beneath boats: there is much to learn from you.