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It is 1895, and the action opens at the home of Lady Windermere in London's fashionable Grosvenor Square. Lord Arthur Savile seems to have a perfect life - rich, well respected, and about to marry a beautiful woman. But it all goes wrong when he falls under the spell of a charlatan clairvoyant. Convinced he must commit a murder before he can marry, what follows are a series of very funny but hopelessly inept attempts to fulfill his destiny.
The whole production is staged in the best traditions of Victorian melodrama taken to their utmost extreme, with a false proscenium framing the action in front of which are cue cards on a trestle to stage left, and two musicians providing mood music from piano and violin to stage right - a kind of stage within a stage arrangement that establishes the Victorian setting. The story is somewhat nonsensical and the whole production has a tongue in cheek feel about it, but it's easy to digest and the action and humour swing along at a brisk pace that is sure to keep you entertained.
Lee Mead, as Lord Arthur Savile, was the winner of the "Any Dream Will Do" TV talent contest, and has since established himself in stage musicals - beginning of course with "Joseph." This is his first foray into melodrama and his inexperience clearly shows. Yes, he is likeable enough in the part, and provides a good enough impersonation of upper-crust gentility, but the shortcoming is that he fails to inject any real emotion into his character. In particular, he gives us very little sense at all of the inner turmoil or panic that must afflict a moralistic young man forced to commit a very immoral act and totally out of control of his destiny. His behaviour, indeed even his love-making to Miss Merton, is all very matter of fact and provides not much of a foil for the comic characters to play off.
No such problems from Gary Wilmot, who gives a solid and well measured performance as the charlatan clairvoyant, Podges. In fact his is essentially an amalgamation of two characters from the original script, taking on the work of the butler in assisting Lord Arthur in the commission of his crime. More restrained than we are used to seeing him, but well in keeping with the part, and the delivery and timing of those rapier like comments is impeccable as ever. Kate O'Mara as a husky and acidic Lady Windermere, Derren Nesbitt as a manic Herr Winckelkopf and David Ross as a confused and bemused Dean, each deliver deliberately hammy and deliciously over the top performances that between them provide many of the production's most amusing moments. Louisa Klein, meanwhile, makes an enchanting and thoroughly convincing Sybil, Lord Arthur's somewhat shallow and sickly-sweet bride-to-be.
Overall it's an impressive production, and whilst it has been reworked and simplified to some degree from the original it remains a wonderful example of old-school comedic writing from one of it's best exponents.
An enjoyable piece of escapist hokum that has stood the test of time remarkably well. Well worth seeing.
Don Gillan - www.stagebeauty.net
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