I f the idea of watching a Victorian farce by a less frequently staged playwright seems like peculiarly old-fashioned entertainment, this production is a startling reminder of how our own world can be deliciously sent up by the past. In the right hands, of course. Nancy Carroll, better known as an actor, brings an adaptation of Arthur Wing Pinero’s 1890 comedy that is as sparkling as they come – springy, silly and full of satirical sting.
The butt of ridicule is the British class system and the profligate political class: the cabinet minister here, Sir Julian Twombley (Nicholas Rowe), has been accused of “accepting favours”. He and his lavishly overspending wife, Kitty (played by Carroll), would not seem out of place amid a Labour party contending with scandal over gifts . The plot is a confection of financially savvy marriage proposals, illicit passions and insider trading.
Conniving siblings who attempt to blackmail their way into high society are thrown into the mix (Phoebe Fildes and Laurence Ubong Williams, both magnificent). There is also a busybody (played by Sara Crowe), a Scottish dowager (Dillie Keane), her henpecked son (Matthew Woodyatt) and various other family intrigues, including a will-they-won’t-they romance between Sir Julian’s debutante daughter (Rosalind Ford) and a Victorian trustafarian (George Blagden). Directed by Paul Foster, the production is immaculate in its execution and does not strain for its double meanings or nod-wink crassly to mo.