GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
Continued present importance
Oscar Wildes period piece transcends its Victorian setting and has an acute contemporary message on class and sex divides, says PETER MASON
A Woman of No Importance
Vaudeville Theatre, London
THIS entertaining Oscar Wilde play has been performed only once on the London stage in the past 20 years. A shame, as it’s almost as relevant in these times of social division as it was when written in 1892.
Similar stories
KEN COCKBURN guides us through a survey of Chekov’s early short fiction, and the groundwork it laid for his later masterpieces
PETER MASON applauds a stage version of Le Carre’s novel that questions what ordinary people have to gain from high-level governmental spying
GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship
MARY CONWAY recommends a play that some will find more discursive than eventful but one in which the characters glow



