Jennifer’s Wilde night of stage-hogging

ACTING in a scene with Jennifer Saunders must be a nightmare — like sharing a cheese fondue with Eric Pickles. There is only so much to go roun round and you just know the other part party is going to hog it.

Miss Saun Saunders (over)plays one of Oscar Wilde’s Wild dragons — the gossipy Duchess of Berwick in Lady Winderme Windermere’s Fan. This is the Wilde play in which wh a long-lost mother (exotic Mrs Mr Erlynne) hesitates to identify h herself to the daughter (recently married Lady Windermere) mere) wh whom she abandoned in infancy 20 years ago.

Every sce scene she is in, Miss Saunders ders stea steals. Given that a large percentag percentage of the audience will probably go because of her, such stage-hog stage-hogging may be excusable. But it unba unbalances the production.

Director Kathy Burke is not helped by a patch patchy cast, some of whom do posh-chap accents which reduce Wilde’s delicate del comedy to the level of Harry E Enfield’s Mr CholmondleyWarner. But Samantha Spiro, one of our under-cherished actresses, is excellent as Mrs Erlynne.

With the Duchess of Berwick not in later scenes, the producers make her sing a front-of-curtain comedy song before Act 4 to whip up the audience. I suppose it gives some punters what they came for, but it ruins any chance of Wilde’s subtle take on Victorian morality being heard. And that is a pity.

A VERSION of this review appeared in earlier editions.