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zachlittrell 's review for:
Lady Windermere's Fan
by Oscar Wilde
I've been chasing for three years after the high I got reading The Importance of Being Earnest -- a comedy so sincere in its anarchy that any attempt to copy Wilde's masterpiece comes off flaccid. However, Lady Winderemere's Fan ain't it either, and you'll enjoy it more when you accept that.
For all the nice wordplay, Lady Winderemere's life is almost a thriller: who is this Mrs. Erlynne? From just whispers, she invokes images of a sensual Machiavelli, orchestrating affairs with married men right in front of their wives. And the charm of it: that's pretty close. As Mrs. Erlynne purrs triumphantly:
She is a poster child for sexual liberation, while Windermere's got a shuttered palace -- and can't even contemplate an affair without writing a note as though she was killing herself.
That sounds like a lot of fun when written out like that, but it's dampened by interludes of one-liners and commentary going nowhere. It deserves to be seen on stage, where actors can breath buoyant life into dumb romantic Darlington, Mrs. Erlynne the libertine, and gentle stick in the mud Lady Windermere.
For all the nice wordplay, Lady Winderemere's life is almost a thriller: who is this Mrs. Erlynne? From just whispers, she invokes images of a sensual Machiavelli, orchestrating affairs with married men right in front of their wives. And the charm of it: that's pretty close. As Mrs. Erlynne purrs triumphantly:
I thought I had no heart. I find I have, and a heart doesn’t suit me, Windermere. Somehow it doesn’t go with modern dress. It makes one look old.
She is a poster child for sexual liberation, while Windermere's got a shuttered palace -- and can't even contemplate an affair without writing a note as though she was killing herself.
That sounds like a lot of fun when written out like that, but it's dampened by interludes of one-liners and commentary going nowhere. It deserves to be seen on stage, where actors can breath buoyant life into dumb romantic Darlington, Mrs. Erlynne the libertine, and gentle stick in the mud Lady Windermere.