A Woman of No Importance
Tower Theatre
Until 12th September
A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde is widely regarded as the least successful of his four drawing room plays. It tells the story of Gerald Arbuthnot, a young man of modest means, who is invited to join an aristocratic house party at Lady Hunstanton’s lavish country estate. Dazzled by the witty and glamorous guests, he is thrilled to be offered the post of personal secretary to the rich and powerful Lord Illingworth. But why is Gerald’s mother so against this opportunity of a lifetime? The dynamics of the house party foreshadow an explosion of hidden secrets and societal double standards in a world “made for men and not for women”.
This play was first performed at the Haymarket Theatre in 1893, and is a layered exploration of morality, gender, and Victorian hypocrisy, wrapped in Oscar Wilde’s trademark wit. Sadly at four acts the play is too long and far too wordy. Some judicious editing is needed to move the play along a bit with the first two acts taking an hour and twenty minutes to perform along with not being helped by the set changes taking far too long to enact – either more stagehands or less changes are urgently needed.
All that being said the cast do their very best to bring this play to life. Jonathan Buckingham is well cast as the upper-class cad Lord Illingworth who clearly feels he is much more important than he should do and is fooled into believing so because all of the society women around him who fall on his every word and appear to adore him. He is ably support by Luke Yianni as Gerald, the young man who yearns to better himself so that he can marry the American heiress that he loves. Dixi Taylor does well as Rachel Arbuthnot, Gerald’s mother, the woman of no important who turns out to be the spanner in the works of Lord Illingworth’s future plans. The rest of the cast deliver their Wildean lines with a lot of humour especially Alison Liney as Lady Jane Hunstanton (although her wig looks as if it belongs somewhere in the French Revolution) and Vyvian Shaw as Lady Caroline Pontefract who sits and knits or does needlework as if she should be sitting at the bottom of the guillotine.
This play will appeal to all fans of Oscar Wilde giving them the chance to see a rarely revived play and also those who like to see plays the like of which they don’t write anymore.
⭐⭐⭐
Reviewer: Mike Linane