“Wilde” Hilarity Ensues at WST in A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE
Walnut Street Theatre (WST)’s first main stage production of the 2020s is Oscar Wilde’s A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE. I attended this classic comedy of manners last night with my daughters. Cultures clash, long-held secrets are exposed, and as the master of biting wit, A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE satirizes the roles we play.
A beautiful, wealthy, American woman travels to England seeking to marry a titled aristocrat. Oscar Wilde created this simple plot to mock British society—and the Englishness of the English. Wilde held an unfiltered mirror up to the bourgeois life of Victorian England, while extolling the virtues of refreshing American values.
Well known for his mastery of wit and satire, Oscar Wilde penned A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE in the height of his career in the 1890s. The play premiered in 1893 at London’s Haymarket Theatre. Wilde pulled no punches when criticizing the social constructs of the Victorian era in which he lived. Women held very few rights compared to men during this time, and Wilde tackled the societal double standards that pervaded the late 19th century.
Walnut Producing Artistic Director Bernard Havard leads the cast from the director’s seat for this production. He has spent his life in theatre as an actor, stage manager, director, managing director and producer. Recognized as one of America’s leading theatre producers, he has served America’s Oldest Theatre for over 35 years. Under his leadership, the Walnut became a not-for-profit, self-producing theatre and has gained international recognition as one of America’s premier regional theatres.
Walnut veteran Ian Merrill Peakes plays the amorous bachelor Lord Illingworth. This show marks Peakes’ 13th at the Walnut, including The Curious Incident…Night-time, Harvey, Ideal Husband, Baskervilles, and Of Mice and Men. Additionally, this will be his 129th professional production in his long career that includes three Barrymore Awards, a Helen Hayes Award, and two Best of Denver Awards. He shares the stage with his wife, Karen Peakes, who is playing the flirtatious Mrs. Allonby. She has been seen on the WST Mainstage in The Curious Incident…Night-Time, Comedy of Tenors, Of Mice and Men, Fallen Angels, and Born Yesterday; and in the Independence Studio on 3 in Speaking in Tongues, Doubt, and Last of the Red Hot Lovers.
A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE satirizes the improprieties and anxieties of Britain’s upper class. After the first hour, the plot revolves around the revelations of Gerald Arbuthnot’s (Brandon O’Rourke) parentage. Twenty years earlier, Lord Illingworth seduced Rachel Arbuthnot (Alicia Roper), who then gave birth to Gerald. Havard does a fine job of taking the audience back to the late 19th century.
Walnut teaching artist Jessica Bedford returns to play the naïve Lady Stutfield. Bedford starred in the Walnut’s and Then There Were None, The Prescott Method, and most recently, this season’s Meteor Shower in the Independence Studio on 3. She also teaches at the Walnut as part of its theatre school faculty and has taught at Montgomery County Community College, Villanova University, Temple University, University of the Arts, DeSales University, and for the Performing Arts Project at Wake Forest University.
Making their Walnut Street Theatre debuts are Audrey Ward and Tyler Ivey. Ward plays the show’s sole American character, Miss Hester Worsley and is a sophomore at Temple University, earning her B.A. in Theater Studies. She was most recently seen on stage in the Temple Theater production of An Enemy of the People. Tyler Ivey plays the dual roles of the butler, Farquhar, and the footman, Francis. Ivey is a graduate of Temple University’s Musical Theatre program and has been seen performing for the Penobscot Theatre Company, 11th Hour Theatre Co., and the national tour of Mad Libs Live!
A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE runs at the Walnut through March 1, 2020. This production is sponsored by P.J. Clarke’s. Media Partners are 6abc, Metro, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. For tickets and information, call 215-574-3550 or 800-982-2787.
Photo by Mark Garvin: Ian Merrill Peakes and Karen Peakes