What a shame the scriptwriters for Frasier weren't around in Oscar Wilde's day how they could have upped the comic ante in Lady Windermere's Fan, as well as all that social commentary and satire for which Wilde is so constantly celebrated.

But as they weren't it's not surprising that I found the play rather tedious, though of course it could just have been this particular production.

The first act, as a kind of paint-drying hors d'oeuvre, was needlessly dull, with performances so wooden (and yet hammy too by way of a curious juxtaposition) that I found myself more caught up with the coughing and wheezing of the show's respiratorially challenged audience than I ever did the drama (or lack of) on stage.

Things definitely picked up in the second act, particularly with the appearance of Grace Mountain (helluva name) as the monosyllabic Lady Agatha Carlisle, delivering a performance so sveltly demure, so coquettishly provocative that for me at least, she was worth the price of the admission.

With almost no dialogue to trade on, just watch Ms Mountain's face when, banished to the terrace, she can only stand and stare as her overbearing mother drones on. Pure comedic class... and a much-needed shot in the arm too for the audience.

Still, with a cognac or two inside me, the second half seemed considerably more jolly. The performances of all the principal female characters easily outshone those of the men (glaringly true), but Clare Denton's portrayal of Mrs Erlynne set the Gold Standard, and in fact she, together with Ms Mountain, elevated the whole production to something I would reservedly recommend. Having said that, Simon Vail was eloquently smarmy as Cecil Graham and Colin Burnie WAS Lord Augustus Lorton (if he's not a natural smoker, he should be).

The whole production was nicely staged but suffered from time to time from an overbearing sense of inaction, especially when the lead characters were supposed to be enduring all manner of emotional angst.

But at the end of the night, walking home, I noticed I felt better than I had at the start of the evening, so I guess the play eventually did its job.