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A Woman of No Importance
Reviewed by Pauline Adamek
Sacred Fools Theater Company
Through Dec. 20
Oscar Wilde’s satire of English upper-class society has solemn and feminist undertones to it, making a precursor of the “dramedy of manners.” After all, it was first performed in 1893 at London’s Haymarket Theatre. The titular “Woman of No Importance” turns out to be a survivalist who suffered scandal, estrangement from her father (and his fortune) and single motherhood in an age where that route caused irreparable damage to one’s reputation, and social ostracism. Her disgrace is due to her being cast aside by an upper-class fellow who preferred to dodge the whole affair and its untimely product. He, of course, maintained his social standing — a commonplace societal injustice that Wilde dares to expose.
We meet a gaggle of toffs at someone’s country estate, circa late 1890s, as indicated by the glamorous embroidered gowns, tiaras and elaborate diamond necklaces. The idle chitchat that forms the substance of the play, especially during the non-eventful Act 1, is typical conversation stylishly captured by Wilde, that observes and comments scathingly on frivolous upper-class mores. Beneath these tableaux vivants of jolly high society runs a cautionary tale, examined during Act 2. This involves the Woman of No Importance – the maligned and bitter Mrs. Arbuthnot (a steely performance from Alexa Hamilton) and her son Gerald (Sean Gibson) who, now that he has come of age, has been offered a fine position with the newly anointed Lord Illingsworth. Mrs. Arbuthnot is at first thrilled by her son’s promising new appointment — that is, until she learns who his new employer is to be.
While some in the Sacred Fools company have a tendency to over gesticulate and declaim their antique text a little too loudly, the cast does, for the most part, competently depict late 19th century British snobs. David Wilcox is a stand-out as the foppish cad Lord Illingsworth. At first he seems to be a mouthpiece for Wilde, seeing as he is permitted to utter the play’s most witty ripostes and pithy aphorisms, but Wilde actually reserves some of his most brutal condemnation for the vile cad. Tegan Ashton Cohan is excellent as Mrs. Allonby, the woman who best matches wits with Lord Illingsworth.
A Woman of No Importance is a fine play with a modern message that still resonates. Unfortunately, under Armina LaManna’s direction, this production feels a little too stuffy and plodding.
Sacred Fools Theater Company, 660 N. Heliotrope Dr., LA; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m (mats Sun., Dec. 6 & 14, 3 p.m.); through Dec. 20. (310) 281-8337, www.sacredfools.org
