Kiss me Kate

3:14pm Friday 24th October 2008

The vampish Kate O’Mara is stepping back into “a more elegant time” by reprising the role of Mrs Cheveley in Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, which arrives at Richmond Theatre next week (October 27 - November 1).

The play was first staged in 1895 and spins a tale of political intrigue against a backdrop of fashionable London parties.

O’Mara’s character, who is described in the play as a “genius in daytime and a beauty at night”, arrives in London with blackmail on her mind and turns the comfortable lives of Sir Robert Chiltern and Lord Arthur Goring upside-down.

O’Mara, 69, says: “Mrs Cheveley is a survivor and an opportunist. She sees an opportunity to make it back into London society. Her position is acceptable in Europe as she is very witty and charming but in London, which was of course a very hypocritical society, she is regarded as outrageous.”

The production is directed by Sir Peter Hall and O’Mara will be joined on stage by Michael Praed and Fennella Fielding. She is big fan of the play, having performed it regularly, and is particulary fond of the era Wilde evokes.

She says: “The play is about a more beautiful age, not to say that life was not grim back then, but it does show a more elegant time.

“I have played Mrs Cheveley a lot – I last played her 10 or 12 years ago in the West End so am very familiar with her. I am not saying I have cracked it yet though!”

O’Mara began her career in the Merchant of Venice. Her look, like a European Eartha Kitt, offered an exoticism that could not be missed and she began being cast as the archetypal femme fatale.

“I’ve never been cast as a good girl. It is because I looked so different, with my cat-like eyes and high cheekbones.”

O’Mara has an eclectic CV (“There’s nothing I haven’t done!”) which features famous roles in Dynasty, Doctor Who, and Absolutely Fabulous.

Earlier this year O’Mara played the part of another siren, Marlene Dietrich, in the show Lunch with Marlene.

She says it was a “terrifying” experience: “People had such high expectations. I got the voice right but the problem was looking like her. I have the legs and cheekbones but lack those wonderfully drooping eyes.”

“The nerves worsen as you get older. My stage role as Jessica [in the Merchant of Venice] was not daunting at all. My mother made us recite Shakespeare as soon as we could speak. She epitomised all that was good about the theatre.”

An Ideal Husband, Richmond Theatre, The Green, October 27 to November 1, visit theambassadors.com/richmond