Lady Windermere's Fan

Lady Windermere’s Fan was Oscar Wilde’s first play to bring him commercial and critical success and marked a significant move away from tragedy to comedy, laying the foundations for arguably his most famous comedy of manners, The Importance of Being Earnest. In contrast to Earnest, Lady Windermere’s Fan perhaps doesn’t quite have the sparkle and rich humour of its successor, it is laced with more melodrama and grounded in more serious themes, but it does satirise upper-class English society and its morals in the same way.

Oscar Wilde wrote Lady Windermere’s Fan in 1891 during a stay in the Lake District, and it is therefore no surprise that numerous characters in the play share their names with places in the north of England: The Duchess of Berwick (Berwick Upon Tweed), Lord Darlington, Lady Agatha Carlisle and, of course, the titular Lady Windermere and her husband. Lady Windermere is the play’s protagonist and was played with charm and strong deportment by Victoria Dexter. Her stagecraft was excellent with good projection and clear diction throughout. The role is usually taken by a younger actor, the character is supposed to be twenty-one, so Victoria seemed a little bit too mature for the role at times, however I do understand the challenges societies are often faced with during the casting process. Having said that, Victoria skilfully brought a youthful demeanour to the role which helped make it more believable that Mrs Erlynne was in fact her mother.

Sharne Gimbert took the part of Mrs Erlynne, the play’s antagonist, and gave an excellent performance. It is a demanding role and the most morally ambiguous, there are times where she acts selflessly and others where she is manipulative and opportunistic. Sharne played this complex character with great stage presence, crisp diction and a measured delivery which brought a cold, controlled quality and an inner strength to her portrayal. Another strong female character in the piece is the Duchess of Berwick, played in this production by Allison Allen. A respectable older lady and friend to Lady Windermere, the Duchess provides a comedic illustration of the expectations of polite society, particularly the role of women. From the moment, she bustled in, brusque and dominant, it was evident Allison was clearly loving her role. She delivered pithy one-liners like ‘Crying is the refuge of plain women but the ruin of pretty ones’ with great relish and good comic timing.

Heading up the male characters in the play, is Lord Windermere, the popular and wealthy gentleman who is married to our protagonist. The role was played by Leigh Matsell, a very different performance to his superb portrayal as Owen Newitt in The Vicar of Dibley. Leigh brought a lovely warmth and gentility to Lord Windermere and had a great rapport with Victoria and Sharne when he was onstage with them. I mostly liked the composure and restrained anger he brought to his character but there were times, especially when he was becoming more infuriated with Mrs Erlynne, that he may have benefitted from more energy and dynamism.

Nick Kime took the role of Lord Darlington and really was fabulous. Oscar Wilde cleverly has the character playfully chatting with Lady Windermere in the opening scene and the dialogue is littered with his witticisms which serve to draw the audience in from the outset. Nick captured the effervescent personality and foppish mannerisms of this character wonderfully, and the audience loved his camp delivery of lines like ‘I can resist everything except temptation’ and ‘Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it’. John Webber played Lord Augustus Lorton, a pleasant but rather buffoonish character who appears to be easily manipulated by women and becomes engaged to Mrs Erlynne at the play’s conclusion. I enjoyed John’s broad, overstated portrayal and his booming voice and exaggerated physicality injected some additional humour into the proceedings. As did Briony Sparrow’s interpretation of Cecil Graham, the play’s light-hearted troublemaker and cynical socialite. Briony’s big facial expressions and animated arm movements reminded me of Max Wall as she flounced around the stage. These two high energy, ‘clownish’ performances were fun but occasionally felt at odds with the general acting style of the play.

Joining the aforementioned characters on stage was a wonderful ensemble, and everyone should be commended; each actor played their part with well observed and thoughtful characterisation. The party scene flowed nicely and had some good pace. I’d like to make a special mention of Tony Hine’s lovely gentle comic performance as Mr Dumby, for me, was reminiscent of John le Mesurier. Also, Carla Hibbitt as the ‘highly talkative’ Lady Agatha and Daniele Petruzzo’s scene-stealing footman both made me laugh out loud.

Congratulations to director, Rosemary Gibson, and her assistant, Wendy Allen, for enabling their cast to shine on stage and helping them to navigate their way through Oscar Wilde’s sharp and fast-paced script. The comedic aspects were handled very well, evident in the reactions and laughter from the audience, but I would like to have seen the melodrama developed and celebrated more. There was some great detail in the performances and the cast were clearly enjoying their time on stage.

I very much liked the set; it was great to see strong, well-constructed scenery with good detail like the marble-effect mantlepiece, the panelled walls and the ‘glass’ in the patio doors. There was even a picture rail, it’s just a shame there weren’t any pictures hanging from it. These would have helped break up the large expanse of painted wall which looked quite stark in some lighting.

On the whole, the costumes looked fabulous, particularly the ladies’ dresses which I understand were made by Rosemary.  They were a joy to look at and brought colour, vibrancy and interest to the production. Apart from the opening scene, where everything was a little too ‘cream’, the dresses contrasted beautifully with each other and emphasised the personality of certain characters, for example, the use of red for Mrs Erlynne was inspired. There was also good attention to detail in the men’s outfits as well, although Cecil’s modern boots did jar a little. The hair and wigs were excellent, and the make-up was strong (I’m reserving judgement on the monobrow).

All in all, another fabulous evening’s entertainment from the talented team at Grantham Dramatic Society. A massive well done to Rosemary, Wendy, producers, Allison Allen and Nicki McKay, stage manager, Gus Sparrow, and everyone else involved. Thank you for continuing to bring theatre to the people of Lincolnshire, I’m already looking forward to your next production.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.