ON STAGE
What: Lady Windermere's Fan
Where: Langham Court Theatre
When: To Dec.8
Rating: 3 (out of five)
With Lady Windermere's Fan, Oscar Wilde proved himself an epigram-making machine.
In this Victorian-era comedy, his first popular success, dandies relentlessly lob witticisms with a zeal that sometimes seems more humanoid than human.
That said, the best ones are very good indeed:
? "I can resist anything except temptation."
? "What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."
? "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
The Victoria Theatre Guild has revived Lady Windermere's Fan just in time for the Christmas season. It's a beautifully costumed effort. The champagne-like atmosphere which best suits Wilde's comedies is notoriously difficult to achieve. On Thursday night such bubbly brilliance surfaced only occasionally.
Still, well-cast newcomer Morgan Ambrose showed potential as Lady Windermere. I'm sure everyone wished Elizabeth Whit-marsh, who plays the duchess, was on stage much longer. And the ball gowns are truly lovely.
Part of the problem lies within the script. In 1892, when Lady Windermere's Fan premièred, Wilde's satirical jabs at the high-society hypocrisy (serious deviations from the moral code meant banishment) were eyebrow-raising stuff. That's not the case today.
And that's partly why the play seemed dated.
As well, Lady Windermere's Fan isn't as well crafted as Wilde's best comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest. It's less effortless; too often we see not the fan but the materials that went into its construction. The play's conflict centres on Lady Windermere's discovery her wealthy husband is financially supporting Mrs. Erlynne (Wendy Magahay), an older yet still beautiful woman with a scandalous reputation. Naturally, Lady Windermere suspects infidelity. Meanwhile, Lord Darlington (Michael Romano) shrewdly sees his chance, half-persuading Lady Windermere to abandon a marriage that appears to be in tatters.
Everything is not as it seems. Lord Windermere (Adam Holroyd) is in fact a devoted husband trying to shield his wife from a terrible secret: her mother, supposedly long dead, is in fact Mrs. Erlynne.
Wilde takes a provocateur's delight in his main theme: that fallen souls are not so terrible, and vice versa. Rules, he insists, are for fools. In Lady Windermere's Fan, the all-important epigrams are built - sometimes tiresomely - around Wilde's infatuation with paradoxical truths.
Ambrose, playing Lady Windermere, is new to com-munity theatre. As such, she does well, adding convincing dramatic moments to her portrayal of a wide-eyed innocent teetering on the brink of scandal. Romano, playing her would-be lover, strove to bring a dramatic naturalism to their scenes.
However, he seemed overly intense. The character of Lord Darlington lost the grace Wilde's characters must always retain, even during dramatic sequences. And there is little chemistry between the pair.
Magahay is one of the stronger performers. She caught Mrs. Erlynne's forthright side but not her coquettish allure. The Duchess of Berwick is a gem of a little role. Whit-marsh played it with confidence and panache - fittingly, she received some of the loudest applause at curtain call.
Director Angela Henry works with a large cast of varying abilities. She's ensured the proceedings move along briskly. The ballroom scene benefited from the lavish costumes; however, it had a static quality - the requisite ebullience wasn't quite there. Designer Dan Thachuk's stately home is well-made and functional but rather stark. His club-bish re-creation of Lord Darlington's flat is more successful. These settings turn on a revolve which - for a community theatre - is rather impressive.
