窪蹋勛圖厙

 

Betrayal's the play as DalTheatre closes its season

Lady Windermere's Fan

- March 28, 2012

Ellen Denny (left) plays the title role in Lady Windermere's Fan. (Nick Pearce photo)
Ellen Denny (left) plays the title role in Lady Windermere's Fan. (Nick Pearce photo)

Closing another stellar season, DalTheatre presents a take on love, lust and betrayal in Oscar Wildes Lady Windermeres Fan.

Im doing a play that I love, says director Marti Maraden, who is directing her first play for 窪蹋勛圖厙after more than three decades as one of the key figures at the famous Stratford Festival.

I love Oscar Wilde. Ive been in his plays and Ive directed them before, but this is my first time with Lady Windermeres Fan Ive got great designers, great staff, wonderful students and a wonderful play.

In the play, Lady Windermere suspects her husband of having an affair. When Lord Windermere invites the other woman to his wife's birthday party, Lady Windermere flees into the arms of another man, kicking off a story of love and its many complications.

Costume designer John Pennoyer and set designer John C. Dinning ensure that Lady Windermeres Fan is truly decadent, beautifully depicting the era in which it was written (1892). But all of this decadence would be idle without the actors who bring it to life.

Its different than anything else weve done in this season, and this one is a different take on anything, says Michael Gaty, who plays Lord Darlington the man to whom Lady Windermere (played by Ellen Denny) runs to when the affair is discovered.

All of our plays revolve around love of some sort, or passion, and this one is much more reserved. But also deals with the same themes and its been very fun for us all to explore together.

Jeremy Parkin, who plays Lord Windermere, advises theatregoers to pay particular attention to Wildes witty dialogue.

He says attendees should tune into the characters and see them as who they are real people who are existing in this world who feel love, who feel hate, who feel envy, anger, jealousy, all these things that make people human. Theyre right there on stage for you. Be in that and love that.

An excellent end to a great season, Lady Windermeres Fan proves that DalTheatre continues to impress students, adults, and theatre patrons alike. The play runs from March 27 until March 31 in the Sir James Dunn Theatre in the Dal Arts Centre. Tickets are limited, but still available through the .