James Mercer and Paul Ackroyd in BLT’s June 2016 production of Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, directed by Andy Solts (Photo: Phil Cairns (http://philcairns.zenfolio.com)
Fri 3 – Sat 11 June 2016 at 7.45pm (not Sun 5)
Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime
Adapted from Oscar Wilde’s book by Constance Cox.
Directed by Andy Solts
Read the Sardines magazine’s review of this show
“Murder is always a mistake: one should never do anything one cannot talk about after dinner…”
Lord Arthur Savile is a well-bred gentleman who is ‘not overburdened with brains’. His engagement to the lovely Sybil has all the appearances of a match made in heaven – but everything changes when his prospective mother in law insists that he has his palm read by Mr Podgers, a well-respected cheiromantist, who foresees that Arthur is destined to become a murderer. To protect his future wife from having to bow her head in shame, Arthur feels duty-bound to get the dirty deed over and done with well before the marriage. Naturally, he settles on killing a member of his own family, but which one to dispatch? Decisions, decisions…
This wicked, black comedy positively fizzes with fun as the audience is taken on a laugh-out-loud romp through Victorian society. Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime is a zany, improbable comedy of murder, chocolate and a night on the Embankment in 1890s London. •
CAST:
Baines, the butler – Paul Ackroyd
Lord Arthur Savile – James Mercer
Sybil Merton, his fiancée – Charis Anna Mostert
The Dean of Paddington, his uncle – Felix Catto
Lady Windermere, his aunt – Jane Amos-Davidson
Lady Clementina Beauchamp, his great aunt – Jan Greenhough
Lady Julia Merton, Sybil’s mother – Hilary Cordery
Mr Podgers, a cheiromantist – Arthur Rochester
Nellie, the maid – Claire Darlington
Herr Winkelkopf, an anarchist – Mike Savill