@ Kings Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 14 Nov 2015; and
@ Theatre Royal, Glasgow, from Tue 24 Nov to Sat 28 Nov 2015

It’s the opening night at the King’s Theatre but the Bunbury Company of Players are still having their dress rehearsal. The dedicated ensemble are performing Oscar Wilde’s immortal comedy for the final time; they have become so immersed into Wilde’s world that they have almost become indistinguishable with their counterparts.

Bookended by new scenes written by Simon Brett, we see two worlds occupying the stage: the past and the present; the play we are watching and the play being rehearsed. Directed by Lucy Bailey, this revived, mature version of the much loved classic is still “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People”, 120 years after it’s first performance in 1895, as you can tell by the constant roars of laughter from the audience at all the right times. (A handbag?!)

Nigel Havers as Algernon Moncrieff and Martin Jarvis as John Worthing reprise their West End performances, playing their original characters from The National Theatre in 1982. The 64 and 74 year olds manage to recapture their youth, and they really do have fun on stage as the two bachelors who take on the same pseudonym to capture the hearts of Gwendolen Fairfax (Carmen Du Sautoy) and Cecily Cardew (Christine Kavanagh), without the approval of  the compelling Lady Bracknell (Sian Phillips). In this adventurous identity comedy, it’s clear the hardest thing a man could do is be completely honest. Wilde questions secretive lives; we need to unmask and be honest.

William Dudley’s design is elegant, set in a company member’s house that still has the original aesthetic of its time, a house that Wilde would admire and a performance he would be proud of. We travel through Wilde’s world, in which he questions the hypocrisies of Victorian society, their ideals of marriage and their liking to cucumber sandwiches, with the not-so amateur company. A refreshing take on this timeless three-act play.