Loralee Windsor

With Oscar Wilde’s writing style as lure, I expected to completely enjoy Lady Windermere’s Fan but my actual reaction was quite different.

In part, I had the incorrect assumption the play was a comedy, so my expectations were upset—though there are many funny aspects. More importantly, much dialogue was difficult—some nearly incomprehensible. Bay Area community theatre management (not limited to Masquers) would do well to reconsider having actors speak in accents which are not their own, as few community theatre actors perform accents well. I’ve discussed this at http://tinyurl.com/pf8vzr

The screenplay of Lady Windermere’s Fan, originally written in 1892, has been reset to the 1950s. Directed by Patricia Inabnet.

If you’ve never seen the Ranjit Bolt translation of Tartuffe you deserve the experience. The original written by Molière was first produced in 1664 at Versailles. In 2002 Ranjit Bolt updated his translation to a modern play with marvelous rhyming couplets. This production is directed by Paul Shepard.

Need a laugh or two? There are lots of reasons to go to the theatre—it gets you out of the house, gets you talking to other humans about something non-work-related—but the biggest benefit comes when the play is a hoot, the actors are having a blast, and the whole experience is, well, uplifting and downright silly.

This rehearsal proved conclusively that I should stop going to rehearsals. Watching this play before it was ready for Opening Night (in order to write this review for you), I can no longer have a pristine reaction to the play when it is ready for prime time. It’s a shame because I bet, in a few days, the play will be even better.

This is going to be an extremely funny play. A play one wants to see many times. Book a seat early in the play’s schedule, so you too can see it again.

There is a lot of serendipity around. Everything confirms each of our current impressions of the world. Lately, in order to complete my Masquers’ review in time for the This Point....in time publication, I have had to attend a rehearsal rather than the play. There is something unfinished about a rehearsal, but it is also more intriguing: what efforts have been spent and combined to create the illusions of theatre?