a woman of no importance
by oscar wilde

an audio recording ~ at the kouros gallery, nyc ny ~ on sunday, october 2nd 2011

director ~ temi rose
assistant director ~ betty howe

pdf of recording script

recording scene by scene on youtube

ACT 1 /links

links / ACT 2
ACT 3 / links
links / ACT 4

 

a woman of no importance was first produced by

beerbohm tree

Mr H Beerbohm Tree at the haymarket theatre in london on april 19th 1893

he played lord illingworth
who is read in our recording

by ross hewitt

mrs beerbohm tree, Helen Maud Holt

Mrs Beerbohm Tree, Helen Maud Holt

played mrs allonby
who is read
in our recording

by temi rose

mrs bernard beere

Mrs Bernard (Fanny Mary) Beere

played mrs arbuthnot
who is read
in our recording

by michelle sims

fred terry

Mr Fred Terry

played gerald arbuthnot
who is read
in our recording

by richard kent green

julia neilson

Miss Julia Neilson

played Hester Worsley
who is read
in our recording

by lisa adams

Fred Terry and Julia Nielson

Mr Charles Allan

played Mr. Kelvil M.P.
who is read
in our recording

by paul singleton

rose leclercq

Miss Rose Leclercq

played lady hunstanton
who is read
in our recording

by charlotte hampden

Roma Guillon La Thière

Miss Roma Guillon La Thière

played lady caroline
who is read
in our recording

by lucy mcmichael

e holman clark

Mr E Holman Clark

played sir john
who is read
in our recording

by jerry rodgers

stephen kemble

Mr Stephen Kemble

played the venerable archdeacon daubeny, dd.
who is read
in our recording

by don brennan

ernest lawford

Mr Ernest Lawford

played lord alfred rufford
who is read
in our recording

by arthur harold

Miss Blanche Horlock

played lady stutfield
who is read
in our recording

by shelley little

 

NARRATOR: Steven Bidwell

 

ACT 1 / links
links / ACT 2
ACT 3 / links
links / ACT 4

from literary connections:

'It cannot by ladies be regarded as a play of no importance'
'Dress at the Haymarket Theatre' from The Sketch, 26 April 1893:


Whatever shortcomings the critics may find in Mr Oscar Wilde's play, we are prepared to maintain that it cannot by ladies be regarded as a play of no importance. It is beautifully dressed, and one has an opportunity of studying in it every variation of modern fashion. Mrs. Bernard Beere [Mrs Arbuthnot], generally so remarkable in her choice of dresses, wore two severe-looking gowns, both black. The costumes, of course, were, by stage tradition, appropriate to a betrayed woman, and had the advantage of standing out strongly in grim, sombre majesty against the brilliant dresses of the butterfly women of the play. Mrs. Tree [Mrs Allonby], in the first act, as she stood on the terrace at Hunstanton Chase, seemed a dainty figure sketched by Lancret. Her dress, pure Louis XV., was of white silk chiné, with roses of every tint - a silk that reminded one of old-fashioned chintz. Her quaintly cut cloak of willow-green, open from throat to hem, with short pelerine, was edged with sable, and had a silk lining of a still softer shade; a branch of mauve orchids held in her hand gave the finishing touch of colour to the pretty picture. In the second act her dinner dress was charming in colour and design. The long train of pink satin, suspended à la Watteau, was bordered by trails of pink roses and lined with black satin, a combination unusual, perhaps, but perfectly successful. Its décolleté bodice of satin was finished with square revers edged by a tiny line of black jet; the revers half masked puffed sleeves of white crape, over which more roses fell in garlands.

Miss Julia Neilson's [Hester] first dress was delightful in colouring, for in the folds of her shot moiré all the tints of the opal seemed playing hide-and-seek. The skirt was plain and bell-shaped, and over the close-fitting bodice fell a deep frill of finely pleated crape. Her next dress, of white satin, was entirely veiled by silver-spangled tulle. In itself the dress, glistening and shimmering with every movement, was pretty, but somehow seemed hardly suited to the stately, puritanical Hester Worsley. Her last costume, 1830 in style, was of pinky yellow glacé silk. Miss Blanche Horlock's dresses were early Victorian - one of réséda satin with a berthe of thick cream guipure was especially graceful. Miss Le Thiere's violet velvet gown was an ideal dress for an elderly woman.