Our Betters at Asolo Repertory Theatre

If this play were a personal ad, it might read: Rich American women seeking financially strapped British men with titles. A hot topic (i.e. Downton Abbey) on both sides of the pond when this delightfully cheeky play was written in 1917, the exchange of a “milady” for a large financial sum was all the rage. Bessie Saunders, 22, pretty and the heiress to several million dollars, has come from America to stay with her sister Pearl, aka Lady Grayston. Pearl’s friends include a cougar Duchess, a widowed Princess and two fellows both besotted with Bessie. But once Bessie witnesses the scandalous habits of this less-than-virtuous society, the emotional cost of social climbing is revealed in this sexy, stylish and wildly witty look at Europe’s posh set and the Americans who crashed the party.