Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime

Oscar Wilde wrote Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime as a short story, rather than a play.  This version was another excellent adaptation by the late Constance Cox, condensing Lord Arthur’s exploits to a single drawing room set.  The eponymous hero is a typical Wildean aristocrat - a well-meaning incompetent, whose role in life is to be admired for what he is, rather than what he achieves.  He was wonderfully played in a richly comic range of moods by Jason Green, an experienced actor, new to Poulner Players.  Lord Arthur is engaged to Sybil Merton (Steph Dearden), against the objections of her dragon-of-a-mother, Lady Julia (Christine Hughes).  Lady Julia gets celebrity palmist Podgers (Nathan East) to assess Lord Arthur’s character.  What Lord Arthur learns is that at some time he will commit a murder.  Rather than postpone the event, Lord Arthur decides that the deed must be got out of the way before his marriage to Sybil, and he resolves to bump off one of his menagerie of dotty relatives.  He does this with the aid of his butler, Baines (Mark Symonds), the dignified and competent counterpart to his master, and Winkelkopf (John West) a passing anarchist.

The result was a lot of absurd comedy, with Jason Green and Mark Symonds playing their characters very seriously, allowing, in particular, Sally Whyte and Janet West to revel in their roles as the Lord Arthur’s eccentric aunts.  There are some very Wildean jokes, such as the moment that Lord Arthur reveals to his fiancée that he intends to murder someone, and instead of being horrified she praises the nobility of his sentiment.  The costumes were beautifully evocative of the period, as was Steph Dearden’s wig - at least, I assume it was a wig - giving her hair the form of a thick rolled hat brim.

In the end, Podgers is revealed to be a fraud and a blackmailer.  Lord Arthur’s attempt to murder Podgers is every bit as unsuccessful as the clock bomb that Winkelkopf delivered to the Dean of Paddington, but Lord Arthur is delivered from his predicament when Podgers commits suicide.  Like much of the violence, this is done off-stage.  Nevertheless, in a neat touch, Nathan East appeared for the curtain call with a bullet hole in his forehead.

Great fun.

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