Lord
Arthur Savile's Crime
Oxford Theatre
Guild
Old Fire Station, 9-13.12.03
The scene opens with our hero, nice but dim Lord Arthur
Savile, as happy as a sand boy as he prepares his forthcoming marriage
to the lovely Sybil. Soon, however, a snake enters this Eden in the
shape of a gifted chiromancer (this means 'palm-reader', we learn; pat
yourself on the back if you already knew this) who predicts that Arthur
will one day commit a terrible crime which will surely jeopardize his
matrimonial bliss
How does a man behave when he knows his own fate in advance?
In Macbeth this situation is the basis of tragedy; Arthur's bungling
attempts to avoid sullying his marriage by nobly committing the inevitable
crime before he walks down the aisle are the stuff of knockabout comedy
in this entertaining production by the Oxford Theatre Guild. An exploding
umbrella, a succulent and deadly pink chocolate and an eccentric German
anarchist all get roped into the increasingly absurd plot.
We are treated to much broad physical farce, including
some well-directed visual set pieces (a scene featuring an exploding
rubber ball was executed with aplomb), and - unsurprisingly for a play
based on an Oscar Wilde short story - the dialogue is consistently a
joy. The one-liners are impeccably witty and quotable, and there is
a delicious vein of black humour underlying what, at first, seemed to
be a conventional drawing-room comedy. (The drawing room itself, along
with the period costumes, are well realised: praise must go to whoever
found such an excellent chaise-longue.) There is also the lightest current
of social and political satire which remains remarkably pertinent -
slight digs at the unelected House of Lords and the state of the British
railways could have been written yesterday and drew appreciative laughter
from the audience.
A more than competent cast do justice to the sparkling
script, displaying fine comic timing and a gift for caricature. As the
central character, Alex Nicholls has a lot of work to do, and succeeds
admirably in sustaining Arthur as an amiable and engaging figure. John
O'Connor is also excellent as Arthur's manservant Baines. Strong casting
is important here because the relationship between Baines and Arthur
(a sort of Jeeves and Wooster duo, avant la lettre), is at the heart
of this play - yet while Baines resembles Jeeves in his acerbic wit
and literary bent, he differs from Wodehouse's character in being all
too frequently as hapless as his master.
Special mention must also go to OTG debutant Alex Colman
as the slimy, Uriah Heep-like chiromancer, for a confident and promising
performance. Gloria Deacon was also particularly enjoyable as the icy
battleaxe Lady Julia Merton, whose impressive line in withering put-downs
would make her a good host on Have I Got News For You.
For anyone who needs some light relief after the hard
business of Christmas shopping, this makes for fine escapist entertainment
- clever, witty and full of laughter. I left the theatre with more than
my usual quota of sweetness and light, wishing - not for the first time
- that I was even half as witty as Oscar.
George Tew, 9.12.03