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It’s impressive how many of Oscar Wilde’s best quotes come from ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’. If characters aren’t waxing lyrical about the starry view from the gutter, they’re sniping at each other about knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Wilde’s 1892 play needs a deft touch if it’s to have the same punchiness as its most famous lines. Ruby in the Dust theatre company’s transposition of the story from the Victorian era to jazzy 1930s London is an interesting enough re-frame for the tightly corseted gender roles and stuffy moral inflexibility under attack.
However, the revelation of the true identity of the scandalous Mrs Erlynne – the woman whom the titular Lady Windermere fears is going to steal her husband – is signposted from the start. And while Wilde’s refusal to neatly tie everything up at the end is satisfying, this production’s sometimes overwrought tone can be hard work.
But the stage lights up every time Graham Hoadly bumbles on with consummate comic timing as Lord Augustus. Meanwhile, Ellie Nunn makes for a sympathetic, believably conflicted Lady Windermere and a compelling Ruth Redman brings a cool self-possession to the mysterious Mrs Erlynne that masks a deep sadness.
This is a solid version of a witty play that grapples with some surprisingly meaty issues. But it never quite connects as much as it could. In the end, there’s a little too much period and not enough drama.