The reviews of this left me wondering whether I would find the first 45 minutes tediously slow; however, the critics were wrong. Although the action in the first 45 minutes is lazy and relaxed - as you would expect on a summer afternoon in the country, one might argue - the dialogue is anything but. The lines are quick and witty, with the most funny and insightful ones coming from Eleanor Bron’s Lady Caroline Pontefract. Emma Fielding’s Mrs Allonby is strong, self-assured and quick-witted, and definitely a match for Dominic Rowan’s immoral and callous Lord Illingworth. Their repartee and chemistry crackles and is a delight to watch.
Crystal Clarke is extremely wooden and unvaried as Hester Worsley, with everything being delivered and said in the same way with the same expressions, and I actually found her incredibly annoying to watch. Harry Lister Smith’s was also quite annoying as an incredibly young and whiney Gerald Arbuthnot, so much so that I wondered why Lord Illingworth would have chosen him to be his Secretary and why Lord Illingworth was proud of him! Phoebe Fildes is wonderfully ethereal and absent as Lady Stutfield, and you can’t help but feel affection and warmth for Anne Reid’s Lady Hunstanton who brings, and holds, all these characters together. She is their common factor, and you can see that they all have a genuine affection for her, however different and polar opposite their views may be. Reid’s portrayal and delivery, and even some of her lines, reminded my of my grandmother, which was both comforting and bittersweet.
Reid’s renditions of folk songs between Acts felt a little unnatural and forced, and were quite long, although I expect that they were necessary to allow for the scenes changes as the sets were magnificent, with such attention to detail.
It has to be said though that the stage lit up when Eve Best entered as Mrs Arbuthnot. Best is one of my favourite actresses, and you know you are going to see something very special when she is in the cast. Best was, as usual, superb, although it felt like it took a while for her character to get going and come into her own, but that is how the character is written and is no reflection on Best. I believe that we may have seen Best corpse twice - which seemed like it was a deliberate attempt by other cast members - but this did not detract from her wonderful performance.
I am a romantic, so there was a part of me that wanted Rowan’s Lord Illingworth to reform and for there to be a happy ending. However, as he remains cruel and heartless you are willing Best’s Mrs Arbuthnot to defy him and society. Although this play does not have the happy ending that I was initially hoping for, it does have a happy ending that is in fact more powerful than I would have imagined for a Wilde play. This play may have been written in and for another time, but the lines and themes are as funny, relevant and appropriate to today that you might be forgiven for thinking that this was the latest play from a modern playwright. A wonderful start for the Vaudeville’s Wilde season.