Dylan Hay
Lady Windemere Essay

In the play Lady Windemere’s Fan, Lord Darlington and Lady Windemere are both central characters, so the casting of these two roles are key. I would cast a young, pretty girl as Lady Windemere, she must be likeable and easy to empathise with, this is key to the structure and plot of the play. My Lord Darlington would be stereotypically tall and handsome, older than Lady Windemere but young enough to be considered attractive, to add further empathy and feeling to the plight of Lady Windemere. This casting would have to be relatable to make he play more comedic and real.

The relationship between these two characters changes throughout the play and it is important that the actors be directed to show this relationship and change accurately. In act 1 be fore we see them together it is apparent that there is something between them. The stage direction [hesitates for a moment] is given before she gives the order to show him up. I would make Lady Windemere exaggerate this hesitation, a look of shock on her face and a splutter or a cough to reiterate the point. This shows the audience that LW has to consider seeing him, as there is some sort of tension between them. Later in act 1 Lord Darlington says “I won’t hear of its raining on your birthday”. I would make the actor perform this over the top with a large shake of his head and put emphasis on the words ‘hear’ and raining’, I would also get him to stand up abruptly. The emphasis shows his indignation and the headshake adds further to this while the abruptness of the standing up shows his surprise to the sentiment. Just before the entrance of the Duchess of Berwick Darlington says to Lady Windemere “I can resist everything except temptation”. As this is one of Oscar Wilde’s epigrams I would direct the actor to say it with a cunning smile and in a flirty tone of voice, leaning forward towards Lady Windemere. The cunningness creates a report with the audience and adds comedic value to the phrase. The flirty tone and the lean forward show the suggestiveness of the line while keeping in check with his playful and closed off demeanour. All of these lines show a suggestive relationship, one of flirtatious comments and intrigue.

In act 2 the relationship changes completely with the Lord Darlington’s admittance that he is in love with Lady Windemere. When Lord Darlington says “...love but no friendship. I Love You” I