RSAMD
3 stars
The portrait of Adam and Eve picking apples in Eden speaks volumes in James Robert Carson’s brightly realised production of Oscar Wilde’s serious 1893 romp through the sexual mores of a nineteenth century swinging set. Performed by RSAMD’s third year acting students, the return of wise-cracking Lord Illingworth’s twenty year old indiscretion to bite him back is a timely look at a society divided by gender, class and double standards.
Around this central conceit flit assorted desperate housewives, pretty ingénues and men who should know better, who muse endlessly on the sex wars before putting theory into practice in the music room. Their narcissistic thesis suggests that domestic life is a drag, while more dangerous liaisons keep the fire alive. When Illingworth tries it on with his son’s American fiancé, however, his dirty-old-man routine moves things into greyer areas.
Given such material, one longs for a reinvention beyond the posh frock touring circuit this florid meditation on sexual manners and rank hypocrisy usually occupies. Especially as the merciful lack of talcum-powdered hair and age make-up lends a youthful verve to some classy performances, with Laurie Brown’s Jason King-alike Illingworth and Sharon Young’s black-clad Mrs Arbuthnott particularly noteworthy.
There is tons of imagination at play. The Chandler Studio is stripped back to give a parlour-room effect, with seats on three sides of the stage. House lights are kept up, and the action spills out into the auditorium. The first half of Wilde’s text, alas, is a smart-alec ramble, and it would have been bolder to deconstruct things down to an even briefer encounter than the one Wilde had in mind.
The Herald, November 5th 2008
ends
3 stars
The portrait of Adam and Eve picking apples in Eden speaks volumes in James Robert Carson’s brightly realised production of Oscar Wilde’s serious 1893 romp through the sexual mores of a nineteenth century swinging set. Performed by RSAMD’s third year acting students, the return of wise-cracking Lord Illingworth’s twenty year old indiscretion to bite him back is a timely look at a society divided by gender, class and double standards.
Around this central conceit flit assorted desperate housewives, pretty ingénues and men who should know better, who muse endlessly on the sex wars before putting theory into practice in the music room. Their narcissistic thesis suggests that domestic life is a drag, while more dangerous liaisons keep the fire alive. When Illingworth tries it on with his son’s American fiancé, however, his dirty-old-man routine moves things into greyer areas.
Given such material, one longs for a reinvention beyond the posh frock touring circuit this florid meditation on sexual manners and rank hypocrisy usually occupies. Especially as the merciful lack of talcum-powdered hair and age make-up lends a youthful verve to some classy performances, with Laurie Brown’s Jason King-alike Illingworth and Sharon Young’s black-clad Mrs Arbuthnott particularly noteworthy.
There is tons of imagination at play. The Chandler Studio is stripped back to give a parlour-room effect, with seats on three sides of the stage. House lights are kept up, and the action spills out into the auditorium. The first half of Wilde’s text, alas, is a smart-alec ramble, and it would have been bolder to deconstruct things down to an even briefer encounter than the one Wilde had in mind.
The Herald, November 5th 2008
ends
Comments