Full [unclear: on] Folly

Who Is Sylvia? is a vivacious light comedy that is replete with the folly of human conceit. The central character, Lord Mark Binfield (Tony Spite), egged on by his boorish soldier companion Oscar (John Dean), attempts to lead a double life throughout the thirty-three year time period of the play. He is on one hand following his respectable image as a happily married career diplomat, while we the audience are permitted a view of his womanising private life. Mark buys Oscar's Knightsbridge flat in 1917 (Act One) for the purpose of practising 'the fine arts of seduction' on the vulgar flapper Daphne (Christine Osboldstone). Daphne reminds him of his adolescent fantasy ideal Sylvia, hence the enigmatic poignancy of the play's title - 'Who Is Sylvia?' - Does Mark ever know? By 1929 (Act II) and 1950 (Act III), Mark has acquired 'new' Sylvia's in the persons of the affected actress Nora and lastly the dress-shop assistant, Doris (both Christie Osboldstone). His folly lies in the cocksure conviction that he has managed to pare the halves of his existence into a respectable social realm and an indulgent private realm. As Oscar emphatically points out in Act One, Mark's worlds must, of natural necessity, collide. In Act Three Mark is rocked by the knowledge that his wife Caroline (Isabel Reid), has been 'in the know' all along (no one has been fooled by his double life) and thus his grandiose illusion crumbles to dust.