Keep the corks popping with Lady Windermere's Fan

The GWT closed the 2008-9 season on a high note. With extra performances and an enormous clamour for seats, our final show, The Full Monty, gave the Theatre Box Office not only much hard work, but the excitement of “House Full” performances and the hope for more of the same in the forthcoming season.

So what will keep the champagne feeling flowing and the fizz sparkling? In keeping with our policy of presenting classics from all ages we go back into the nineteenth century for a high spot in British theatre with the first of Oscar Wilde's plays of high society. He had already been less than successful in attempting a political play, Vera, subtitled The Nihilists,  about Russian  politics and the Romanoff succession in the 19th century. He had also written Salome, in French, while spending two months in Paris in 1891. Its torrid sexual overtones were too advanced, certainly for the English theatre of the time even though Wilde put the finishing touches to it in respectable Torquay.  Sarah Bernhardt was interested in playing the name part in London but the Lord Chamberlain acted as censor and invoked an old law that forbade biblical characters on stage. Salome had to wait for many years before it was staged in the UK, although in 1905 it became, in the hands of Richard Strauss, a rather scandalous opera complete with the dance of the seven veils.

Before his Paris visit Wilde had written Lady Windermere's Fan in 1890 and it was an immediate success when presented by George Alexander at the now-demolished St James' Theatre. The New York Times reported that the audience at the London premiere on  20th  February 1892 was “the most brilliant audience that had gathered for years.”  It included  Bernard  Shaw, Lily Langtry and Frank Harris. The enthusiasm and excitement in the auditorium grew as the play progressed and the euphoria was overwhelming by curtain fall. It didn't take many cries of “Author” before he appeared in front of the curtain, with a cigarette in mauve-gloved hand and a green carnation in his buttonhole. There are several versions of his curtain speech and the following, noted by George Alexander, is the most extravagant,  but  possibly  not  the  most  accurate:   “Ladies and gentlemen”,  it begins, “I have enjoyed this evening immensely. The actors have given us a charming rendering of a delightful play, and your appreciation has been most intelligent.  I congratulate you on the great success of your performance, which persuades me that you think almost as highly of my play as I do myself.”

In a later interview Wilde was asked whether he recognised that people found fault with his curtain speeches. He replied that he was aware that humility is for the hypocrite, modesty for the incompetent, but the duty and privilege of the artist is self-assertion only. The crowds came and the theatre was full for most of the year with a summer break while the play toured the provinces.

We trust that the GWT will be a fitting substitute for the 1892 St James' Theatre and that our audience’s performance will follow the lead set by that famous premiere..

It is a remarkably strongly constructed play with the eponymous object as the focus of the action; so keep your eye on that fan which threads the entire plot together. It has enigmatic characters speaking the wit and wisdom of Oscar in his prime.

BILL  BRAY

And now a word from the director ...

This comedy of morals is set in the London equivalent of the Belle Époque, in the last years of the 19^th century, a golden age which lasted until the opening of the 1^st World War. The elite class of high birth and social standing, cosseted by servants and with money galore ruled supreme. And yet the fear of ostracism was very real, the overriding principle being that an untainted reputation was mandatory for acceptance in society and that scandal was to be avoided at all costs.  Oscar Wilde’s pen could not resist the hypocrisy of the ruling class. Hence this play.

The thoroughly virtuous Lady Windermere is planning her 21^st birthday party when gossip reaches her that her husband has formed a liaison with the vivacious, enigmatic Mrs. Erlynne, a lady who has been ostracised from ‘Society’ for some disgrace earlier in her life. Lady Windermere’s suspicions are reinforced when Lord Windermere expresses a wish that she should invite Mrs. Erlynne to her party,  in order to help restore her acceptability in society. Indeed, he insists on it causing friction between himself and his young wife. Meanwhile, the frivolous Lord Darlington attempts to seduce Lady Windermere and proposes that she should elope with him. Fearing that her husband’s affections are straying, is she tempted? Does she elope? If so, what could possibly save  her from being ostracised herself? Who is the enigmatic Mrs. Erlynne? And what part does the fan play in this intrigue?

All of these issues are vividly rehearsed by a highly talented cast including, for the gentlemen, Lee Devlin, Ross Holland, John Turnbull, Roger Gollop and Jon Meakin. For the ladies, we present the delicious talents of Justine Greene, Sarah Tortell, Sue Higginson, Helen Gaston and Gaynor Griffin. Not to be outdone and to add to the humour are Catherine Addy, Kellie Risby, Keith Dunn and the inimitable Graeme Horner as Parker the butler.

With gentle, subtle humour and the wit of Oscar Wilde very much to the fore, Lady Windermere`s Fan will provide a delightfully humorous opening to the new season. I have no doubt that the wit of Oscar Wilde will provide a lovely evening`s entertainment to launch another season of plays at the GWT.

ALAN  GOODWIN