By BBC News Online's Ian Youngs

Joely Richardson, best known for starring in low budget UK films said she wanted to act on stage with her mother before it was too late.

Redgrave (right) is more natural and imposing

Her mother is Vanessa Redgrave, one of the great dames of British acting talent. The two got the chance to work together in this production of Oscar Wilde's sharp social drama, Lady Windermere's Fan.

Their characters' relationship is central to the play, with Richardson playing Lady Windermere, a young woman embedded in the upper layers of aristocratic Victorian life.

With constant if slightly unfair comparisons to her mother, Richardson's acting is not quite wooden, but a little cardboard.

Redgrave is much more natural and, when she wants to be, imposing.

That goes against the stiff upper lips of the other characters - but then her character, the mysterious Mrs Erlynne, has to be slightly different from the rest.

Mrs Erlynne had been in Lady Windermere's position in her youth - but fell from grace and is now on her way to winning back her status and respect.

Wilde's script turns up spades of humour

When Lady Windermere comes within a whisker of making the mistakes that led to Mrs Erlynne's social downfall, the elder character must make some stark choices that will determine the courses of both their lives.

As well as Richardson and Redgrave, there are some fantastic performances in characters that are so full that they could be given whole plays of their own.

Jack Davenport plays the young, roguish gentleman who vies for Lady Windermere's affections - quite a change from his most famous role, as Steve in the ranchy BBC sitcom Coupling.

Veterans John McCallum and Roger Hammond are extremely likeable as two bumbling old duffers, while Googie Withers, 72 years after her first stage appearance, is simply a legend.

Credit must also go to the director, Sir Peter Hall, the theatrical giant who was founder of the Royal Shakespeare Society.

There are spades of humour, especially in the uproarious scene in which the gentlemen are enjoying late-night cigars where the dialogue tears the society of the time apart.

For all the star turns, it is the strength of Oscar Wilde's script that makes for a compelling drama and an evening of sparkling wit.

Lady Windermere's Fan is at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, in London's West End.