Week 10
Apart from the four principals (Lord and Lady Windermere, Mrs Erlynne and Lord Darlington), who are caught up in the central drama of the piece, LWF is packed tight with brilliantly-drawn comic characters, from the acid wit of Mr Dumby and Cecil Graham to the monosyllabic dimness of Lady Agatha, from the brashness of the Australian Mr Hopper to the refined poison of Lady Plymdale, from the scattiness of Lady Jedburgh to the buffoonery of Lord Augustus. Even Rosalie the maid and Parker the butler are comic creations in their own right.
One of the most entertaining of these is the feather-brained Duchess of Berwick, played by Barbara – an actress I’ve worked closely with several times over the past 15 years.
She says: ‘The last time I played a Duchess was in Alice in Wonderland at the tender
age of 8. There's not a lot of difference between the two: both are imperious, gossipy, bossy, nosey women - although I must say the Duchess of Berwick is very much more upper class than t’other: a total snob!
As with the other principal characters, the Duchess goes through various mood changes from the 'kind and caring friend' who is only an informant for the best possible reasons to a completely over the top 'gusher' when a possible suitor for her daughter appears - only to show her abhorrent side when her daughter agrees to move abroad. I love the way she doesn't care
who she castigates as long as she comes out alright herself.
I think Oscar Wilde is a genius, capturing the whole double standards of the time. He never wastes a single word and all his characters are followed through.
I am enjoying working with Peter again and rehearsals, albeit hard work, are great fun. There is a wonderful camraderie in the company, and I believe it will be a great show.’

Week 9
From a budgeting point of view, one of the advantages of Lady Windermere’s Fan is that there are no royalties. On the other hand, there are costumes...
But that’s no problem: royalties are invisible to the eye of everybody except an accountant, whereas the costumes give the eyes of the audience something to feast upon. From the director’s point of view, the wadrdrobe budget is money well spent.
Helen, our Wardrobe Mistress, has been sourcing the custumes to make sure they are suitably sumptuous.
“Last week Jaie (Helen’s assistant) and I took a trip to the RSC to see what the
availability of costume was for men and women. Having decided with Peter that we would set the show circa 1900, I was able to produce sufficiently period-accurate costumes for the publicity photocall by adjusting costumes from my own collection. The Oxford Drama Wardrobe have also produced some lovely outfits which, after some tender loving care, will look wonderful and considerably lessen the wardrobe bill, I hope. All I need to do now is finish measuring the cast, and it'll be full speed ahead to selection and fitting.”
On the subject of giving the audience something pleasing to look at, we’ve also this week had first sight of the set design from Peter, our designer. 1900 is right in the middle of the Art Nouveau period, and he’s based his design for chez Windermere on the clean lines of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, with a rather witty nod in the direction of a fan motif. Lord Darlington’s rooms in Act 3 will, naturally, be quite different.
Of course, this means that the job of Joanna and Kay, our Props Mistresses, becomes that little bit more exacting: the props and furniture also have to be period-specific. But they’ve already found an antique dealer who could turn out to be a ‘one-stop shop’ so, with any luck, there won’t be any last-minute scouring of junk shops to find something suitable.

Week 8
Five weeks to go before we open – and we’ve already sold the equivalent of one full house!
All down, of course, to the publicity. Which means a great deal more than simply designing a poster and putting it up around the city.
It all started back in October or November, when the Playhouse spring brochure went to print. Then came the photography for the poster and the copy for the back of the flier, plus letters to schools and colleges and language schools and just about anyone whose address we have who could be interested in the show.
This week we’ve had a further photocall for three of the principals – Felicity, Clare and Ross – so that we can send out suitable photographs with press releases to every newspaper and journal in the Playhouse’s catchment area. And, at the same time, rehearsal photographs for the programme – the design and printing of which is an entirely separate exercise, and every bit as intensive.
Felicity P, who’s co-ordinating the publicity activities, enlisted the aid of the entire cast early in the week. When they weren’t on stage (we were rehearsing the ballroom scene, which involves everybody), they were frantically stuffing envelopes. Thousands of them. And, don’t forget, someone has to stick stamps on all those envelopes...
Already, an army of volunteers has been putting up posters and stocking leaflet dispensers, and that will continue until we open (it’s amazing how many posters get pulled down or covered up).
In fact, there are probably two or three times as many people involved in the background as there are on stage. As well as publicity, there’s the set design – and building it! – wardrobe, props, lighting, sound. Plus three people I simply couldn’t do without: my safety net Stage Manager, Gareth, and the ever-present Ray and Michelle, the Production Managers who co-ordinate everybody else and solve any problems that I encounter (or cause...).
In fact, the word ‘company’ in the phrase Theatre Company is every bit as important as the word ‘theatre’. And having this well-oiled machine underpinning its productions is one of the main reasons the Guild is so successful.