Lady Windermere's Fan - Live in Cinemas

Before the performance started, Dominic Dromgoole, the Artistic Director of the Classic Spring Theatre Company (formerly Artistic Director of The Globe) explained how all four Oscar Wilde plays they are putting on, were purposefully designed for the small theatres with a proscenium arch. This production of Lady Windermere's Fan showed how wonderfully intimate they could be. It was so much better than the first in the series, A Woman of No Importance. 

Although first performed in 1892, it has lost none of it's wit. Oscar Wilde's play on words is admirably suited to the upper class characters on stage. The cast all all very good. The diction was outstanding, I heard every word. The live screening was extremely well done and there were compensations for the atmosphere of seeing the play live in the close ups and clarity of speech we could enjoy in our cinema seat.

Newcomer Grace Molony ( an award winner on her debut in Chichester) in the title role of Lady Windermere  just about carried the performance. She was obviously upstaged by Jennifer Saunders as Duchess of Berwick and the outstanding Samantha Spiro as Mrs Erlynne.

 But my guess is that all the credit for this hugely engaging night, should go to director Kathy Burke. It must have been her mischievous and occasional anarchic temperament that gave this production an energy and consistency that meant  it kept up a relentless pace throughout.

In between Acts 3 and 4, there is a change of scenery, and we were then treated to a musical comedy interlude. It reminded me of those that punctuated the brilliant One Man, Two Guvnors. The original song (composed by the director) was sung by Jennifer Saunders (who else) with hilarious accompaniment, particularly from  Victoria Blunt (second left) on percussion. Fabulous.