Lady Winderemere’s Fan at the Shaw festival: Hinton gives a stunninng production.
It’s said that Oscar Wilde was the first person to become famous for being famous. The author/playwright whose own affair with Lord Alfred Douglas created a scandal that surpassed any he wrote about in his plays, was known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and sparkling conversation. Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day.
Photo: by Emily Cooper. L to R: Tara Rosling, Gray Powell, Marla McLean. Reviewed by Jeniva Berger, www.scenechanges.com
But it wasn’t until his first "society comedy’ in 1895 that his playwriting career got a kick start. Lady Winderemere’s Fan, subtitled A Play About a Good Woman, was the first of four significant plays of Wilde and marked the beginning of his real stature as a playwright of consequence. Its current production at the Shaw Festival directed by Peter Hinton, lights up the Festival Stage in delicious hues and dark edges.
