Emma Fielding’s Mrs Allonby has a ‘wickedness’ about her, only willing to tie her boots and kick the wall of obstacles faced by her sex. Throughout, the upper-class women hosted at Hunstanton Chase country house offer a sprinkling of laughter with their gossips and discussions about the behaviour of the opposing sexes. Best delivers Arbuthnot’s ‘Mother’s Love’ monologue with bruising affection, and her final altercation with Lord Illingworth (played by Rowan with haughty male superiority) is both directed and performed with satisfying catharsis. Mrs Arbuthnot, ruined by illegitimacy and forced to live life as a sinner, is desperate for Gerald to refuse the position with, unbeknownst to him, his father.Įve Best is remarkable as Mrs Arbuthnot, conveying a woman not self-pitying because of her past, but strong-willed and thankful for her son, no matter the burden she has encountered as a lone parent. Upon hearing the news, Gerald’s mother (Eve Best) is devastated to learn that Lord Illingworth is the same George Harford who she once loved, but who refused to marry her despite knowing she was with child, and despite the social battery she would be faced with bearing a child outside of wedlock. Wilde’s 1893 comedy tells the story of boyish Gerald Arbuthnot (Harry Lister Smith) who is offered a secretarial role by Lord Illingworth (Dominic Rowan). I took shelter at the Vaudeville theatre for the commencement of the Oscar Wilde season, opening with ‘A Woman of No Importance.’ Despite the many glances at my watch as the play reached its 150th minute, I was grateful to escape Ophelia’s temper. Under apocalyptic sepia skies hurricane Ophelia whistled in my ears and knotted my hair, rustled my coat and pushed me down the Strand at a pace.
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