With such a stellar cast, I had high expectations for this production. Unfortunately, however, the first scene really wasn’t that good. The audience are supposed to be a social butterfly at the party, flitting seamlessly between conversations. Instead, the acting was incredibly wooden, the lines stilted and the silence and pauses between the various conversations so jarring that it felt like people had forgotten their lines or their entrances. The show hasn’t opened yet, so this may get slicker as the run continues, but the entirety of the first half felt very static and stilted and was very soporific.
The second act was a vast improvement, however, and really brought the production to life and saved it. Freddie and Edward Fox were incredible and endearing as their father and son counterparts, Lord Goring and Earl of Caversham (respectively). Although Edward Fox was near on impossible to understand in the first half, there was wonderful clarity in the second and he and Freddie Fox stole the show. They lit up the stage whenever they entered and their chemistry was, perhaps unsurprisingly, fantastic. And there was a particular scene between Lord Goring and his butler, Tim Wallers, regarding letters which I am almost certain was a nod to their recent appearance in Travesties together - if it wasn’t an in-joke then the coincidence is remarkable!
One thing that bothered me slightly about this production was what seemed to be the age-blind casting. I couldn’t figure out how old any of the characters were supposed to be until Lord Goring announced that he was 34, and the disparity in ages made a farce of the supposed relationships between the characters. I’m fairly certain that the audience was not supposed to laugh when Sally Bretton’s Lady Chiltern said that she and Frances Barber’s Mrs Cheveley were at school together! So again it felt like miscasting in the Vaudeville Wilde season.
Frances Barber’s Mrs Cheveley was very much like the snake brooch that the character loses. Her first confrontation scene with Nathaniel Parker’s Lord Chiltern put me in mind of a cobra weaving about just before it strikes its prey. As a result this scene was rather effective, but for the most part I found the character rather tedious and quite annoying. I suspect that is the point, but there was no real light or shade to the character, saccharinely sweet and fake one minute and then hissing and spitting the next, with nothing in between. This made the character feel flat and two-dimensional and was rather reminiscent of a pantomime villain. Nathaniel Parker, Sally Bretton, Susan Hampshire and Faith Omole were all very good, but there was nothing outstanding about their performances, again feeling quite flat and rather two-dimensional characters. Admittedly, that is the point with some of Wilde’s characters, but the result here was that everything felt like it was on the same level with no real variation.
I would still recommend seeing this show though because, despite this, it was wonderful for a bit of light relief and some witty repartee.