The Lyric Theatre has climbed a mountain of well-catalogued difficulties and, thanks in no small measure to the sterling efforts of its hastily-appointed artistic advisor Paula McFetridge, has arrived at the start of its 50th birthday season with a smile on its face. And what better way of attracting both jaded long-time supporters and new audiences than with a frothy helping of Oscar Wilde, performed by a top-notch local cast and directed by an actor who made his first professional appearance at the Lyric in this very play.

Dan Gordon has assembled a most interesting team, casting against type in three key roles and bringing home a fine classical actor, who has done excellent work in Dublin and beyond these past 10 years or so. While a tight budget was clearly in the mind of designer Stuart Marshall, he has worked wonders with a versatile set, which, though lacking in lavish splendour, owes its witty inspiration to the austere art nouveau motifs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

First night flutters and public expectation, no doubt, contributed in considerable degree to a sense of, well, earnest endeavour about the first two acts, which did not proceed with quite the sense of lightness and dazzle that Wilde's wonderfully trivial writing invites. Sean Kearns and Sheelagh O'Kane are a well-matched, mature Earnest and Gwendolen, and Julia Dearden is cast as a younger-than-usual Lady Bracknell. But their combined experience and the input of voice coach Patricia Logue serve them well. Niki Doherty is a pert and pretty Cecily, perfectly paired with Miche Doherty's Algernon. Doherty was put on this earth to play Wilde and his languid posturing, verbal fluency and wicked ad-libbed asides set the benchmark for the aspirations of this warm-hearted celebration.