The obeisances towards the centenary of Oscar Wilde's death are still being made in theatreland, and a new one has surfaced in Bewleys' lunchtime entertainments.
Oscar and the Sphinx, devised by Michael James Ford and Glynis Casson, takes a look at the great man from the perspective of one of his uppercrust patrons and friends, Ada Leverson.
A minor writer herself, Ada gravitated towards Wilde from the start, attending his first nights and socialising with him around town while her aristocratic gambler husband pursued his own hobbies. Their correspondence is larded with mutual flattery, much of it fulsome. But she stood by him to the end, when he was deserted by so many others.
It all makes for a different kind of commentary on the familiar facts, a divertissement with a point. Glynis Casson plays Ada the Sphinx (Wilde's pet name for her) with some style, dignity and the right kind of pear-shaped tones, occasionally just on the right side of audibility. Offstage, the voice of Alan Stanford's Oscar chimes in at appropriate moments, helping to set the scene.
Michael James Ford directs, with the benefit of Bronwen Casson's set design. It all passes a pleasant and informative hour or so.
Limited run; to book, phone: 01-8308419