Transported into the world of Victorian England for the night, I sat with both my head in my hands and clutching my sides in equal measure for Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest staged at the New Wolsey Theatre.
In a relatively small cast consisting of just eight members, each held their own unique command of the stage, whether that be in small comedic subtleties or audacious twists on stuffy aristocrats.
Was I expecting the obstinate Lady Bracknell to be played by Vinegar Strokes, a Drag Queen of international recognition? From performance photography released during the production's first stint at the Leeds Playhouse, yes.
Was I expecting the emotionally complex yet, simultaneously, wonderfully comedic performance I ended up receiving from the immensely talented Daniel Jacob? Hand on heart, absolutely not.
Lady Bracknell glittered on stage both physically, through costume design in which she appeared as a twinkling mirage dripping in jewels, and metaphorically with a domineering stage presence and debonair disregard for the feelings of others.
One of this production's strengths lies in its ability to elevate the strength of its female characters from material written more than 100 years ago.
Most notably, Cecily (Phoebe Campbell) and Gwendolen (Adele James) made swift changes between comedy and wounded pride in the blink of an eye, offering the perfect opportunity for Lane (Valentine Hanson) to take up the unenviable task of intermediary between two strong-willed women.
Director Denzel Westley-Sanderson wanted to stage a production which could explore motifs of gender fluidity and Black history pre-Windrush and did so with great success.
Both themes are addressed with the subtlety I might expect from a director with seasoned professional status which, through sheer number of directing credits rather than age, Westley-Sanderson has achieved.
In stark contrast to Lady Bracknell's disparaging comment that Algernon (Abiola Owokoniran) 'has nothing, but he looks everything,' this production both has everything and looks everything.
A box set stage gave the impression of a pristine stately home, while a gauze opening onto a garden toward the back of the stage opened the set to possibilities beyond the indoor sphere.
This relatively traditional staging decision dealt the production no bad hand, instead enabling the keen ability to transform the entire scene within a mere matter of seconds to contribute to the play's accumulative speed.
Despite changing aspects of the set themselves in the dimmed light, the illusion of the world created by the play and its characters was never once broken.
I must say that I wasn't quite expecting a dramatic knee-slide from John Worthing (Justice Ritchie) across the stage while he screamed 'Mama' with a vigour I've only ever seen executed by Freddie Mercury delivering the same line in Bohemian Rhapsody.
Nevertheless, the play wouldn't have been complete without it.
The melodrama, the comedy and the farce all meshed together to create a truly unique spin on a Wilde classic - no mean feat when you consider that a countless number of stage and screen adaptations have been recorded since its conception in 1895.
This show proved to be the perfect first excursion to the New Wolsey Theatre and I would recommend it to anyone who is lucky enough to catch one of the performances which run until Saturday, October 1.
It was only in the ending of the play, as complicated and nuanced as the character relationships skilfully portrayed by the actors throughout, that I truly understood The Importance of Being Earnest.
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