THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

The Royal Opera in the Linbury Theatre

17.06.13

How to make an opera out of Oscar's "trivial comedy" ?

In this, the first staged production [semi-staged, I'd have said], there are at least four strands, sometimes complementary, sometimes contradictory: the words, the music, the adaptation and the direction.

It's a sell-out run for the Linbury, and the audience is quick to laugh at the wit of the original [in anticipation, on occasion, a notorious shortcoming of surtitles]. There's wit in Gerald Barry's score, too, with Auld Lang Syne variated, German song referenced several times [Lady B approves of lieder], and nice G&S capering for a reprise of "What Can I Do?". Wilful pauses, clever punctuation, and for Cecily's duet with Gwendolen, augmented percussion including those forty notorious china plates.

Would Wilde have approved ? Probably. He may well have recognised something of himself in Alan Ewing's excellent "Aunt Augusta" – florid and pin-striped. One person who would have loved it is the Dadaist Tristan Tzara, who appears as Jack Worthing in Stoppard's Travesties. The subversive nonsense would have appealed – Lane [Simon Wilding, stalking his betters] peeling a cucumber, the food fights, Algie's red sneakers spotlit as the piece opens.

Ramin Gray has decided to set this in the present day – as if the rebarbative music were not dislocation enough – so Algie is listening to the piano on his iPod, and the Army Lists are googled on everyone's smartphone.

The actors, dressed so as almost to blend in with the audience, sit in row A when they're not on.

Character work to match the brilliance of Ewing's aunt from Hilary Summers as Prism in purple, pursued by her muscular Christian Chasuble, cycle helmet and sandals [Geoffrey Dalton].

Benedict Nelson [the Barber at ENO earlier this year] is a cool Algie, especially in his Bunbury clothes, and gives a confident interpretation of the score – for example in his Cucumber Sandwiches duet with Paul Curievici's Ernest. Plenty of musical humour from the girls, too, starting their tea-time encounter on loud-hailers: Ida Falk Winland as a shrill bespectacled Cecily, Stephanie Marshall an amorous, elegant Gwendolen.

The orchestra, sharing the black raked steps of the stage with the singers, is the superb Britten Sinfonia, under Tim Murray. As well as negotiating the tricky score, they're called on to stamp and shout out dialogue. They rise to the occasion very impressively.

debris on the stage as we go into Act III - the view from our "box" at the Linbury ...

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

Greville Theatre Club at the Barn Theatre Little Easton

30.05.13

Oscar Wilde's "trivial comedy" is very well received by the "serious people" of rural Essex – gales of laughter, and knowing anticipation of more than one classic riposte.

Production values are high. The costumes look substantial and stylish, from Aunt Augusta's brocade to Gwendolen's cerise gown to Algy's garb of woe to the Canon's gaiters. The set is simple – pale Aesthetic green – with added trellis for the Woolton garden, and an impressive quick change to the Morning Room.

Nine actors from the Greville rep bring Oscar's words to life. Urbane, poker-faced Lane [Rodney Foster] and his country cousin Merriman [Steve Bradley]. Miss Prism, delicious in her mortification, is Judy Lee; Chasuble, her metaphorical admirer is richly, ripely drawn by Peter Nicholson.

The quartet of lovers: Jonathan Scripps' smug, smiling Jack, sartorially stunning in his Act One suit, could clearly give some tailoring tips to his wicked friend Moncrieff [Adam Thompson], Wilde-eyed with a hint of the Mad Hatter. And a deft deliverer of his many epigrams.

Sonia Lindsey-Scripps – like a pink rose – as fun-loving Cecily, and Carol Parradine as Gwendolen, her supercilious look, her insincere smile reminiscent of Dame Maggie in her prime; she will clearly become like her mother, superbly depicted by Jan Ford, the glances, the inflections, the timing, the eloquent body language making a satisfyingly rounded character. Her "handbag" more rueful than outraged.

Occasionally lines were lost to laughter, but the pace is lively, the staging inventive. The synchronised shock reaction on "Your brother!", and the girls drawing together for the "wounded, wronged" reconciliation just two examples of effective ensemble.

The Importance was directed and produced for The Greville by Marcia Baldry and Diana Bradley.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
London Classic Theatre Company
Civic Theatre, Chelmsford
Friday 22nd March 2013

Laura Bennett was in the Civic stalls:

Wilde's time-honoured comedy is brought energetically to life by the consummate London Classic Theatre Company, visiting Chelmsford mid-way through their UK Tour.

Eminently quotable, this production proves that the piece is as vibrant now as ever - more than 100 years since its original release. A solid cast bring a fresh vitality to the familiar characters, with Wilde's witty dialogue delivered with impressive comic timing. The two Ernests (Harry Livingstone as Algernon and Paul Sandys as Jack) bounce off one another with ease, and their intended sweethearts (Helen Keeley as Gwendolen and Felicity Houlbrooke as Cecily) are graceful in their indignation and work especially well together. Carmen Rodriguez is majestic as Lady Bracknell, hilariously under-playing the famous "handbag" scene in a picture of contained distaste. Richard Stamp is almost scene-stealingly funny as the pair of butlers, distinguishing entirely between the two characters and not needing dialogue to generate plenty of farcical humour.

The design of this stylish production is key with the only furniture a carefully fashioned chair per character, encircling the acting space and being strategically pushed forward when required. Costumes are lavishly colourful, and the large roses hanging as the only backdrop add a simple elegance throughout. A charming production of a timeless theatrical classic.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

Middle Ground Theatre Company

at the Mercury Theatre Colchester

22.10.2012

for The Public Reviews

This Middle Ground tour of Oscar's greatest hit has been around for a year or two. Last time, if memory serves, it had Tony Britton in it.

No such legends this time out, but a cast including many names from stage and the small screen, who together gave us a workmanlike, if ultimately uninspired, canter through the lapidary text.

It certainly looks good – the scenery is imposing: a lovely cloth of City of London churches for Act One, a classical garden for Act Two, a country house library, with the same horticultural backdrop, for Act Three. And the frocks were superb – Gwendolen's reticule, Aunt Augusta's formidable hats typical of the care lavished on these Edwardian outfits. And there's a lovely original score from Mat Larkin, featuring the violin of Lynette Webster.

As Miss Fairfax so rightly points out, style not sincerity is the vital thing. And it's not so much the farcical misunderstandings that lie at the heart of this piece, but the polished wit, bons mots and aphorisms. Not everyone is equally skilled at pointing a witty riposte, or indeed at timing the lines to extract every laugh from the willing audience.

It is perhaps a generation thing. Diane Fletcher's elegant Lady Bracknell is a true delight. Her inability to bring herself to pronounce the word "handbag" is a masterstroke, and even a line like "the unfashionable side" is imbued with deep shades of significance. David Gooderson is a game old parson, charmingly pursuing the prim Miss Prism of Sarah Thomas, and we are treated to a double domestic helping of Gerry Hinks, who gives us a suavely lugubrious Lane and a doddery, distracted Merriman.

In the opening scene, Algie [Jim Alexander] and Jack [Tom Butcher], resplendent in spats and moustaches, run through the dialogue at a spanking pace, with some lack of clarity. The objects of their affections, amusing in the garden duologue, sometimes come across more as the "purple of commerce" than the "ranks of the aristocracy" – a question of poise, deportment and subtlety.

On opening night at the Mercury, we hear mostly ripples of laughter, rather than gales. But the audience seems to enjoy this fitfully diverting revival of this most bankable of classic comedies.

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

Lindisfarne at the Dixon Studio, 

the Palace Theatre Westcliff

for Remote Goat

23.10.10

Period furniture, several aspidistras, Lane [an unbending Simon Dunn] listening to Algernon's pianoforte practice.

An auspicious start to Lindisfarne's “Importance” in the Dixon Studio. “Style, not sincerity, is the vital thing”, as Oscar says.

The two bachelors, neither named Ernest, coped manfully with Wilde's precious language, and at least were the right age. The “ostentatiously eligible” Algernon was Nathan Spence; his friend Jack was Rory Joscelyne. They interacted well, though a crisper delivery, and better posture, might have improved their characterization.

I was impressed by Lizzie Smith's Cecily – a touch of the jolly hockey sticks and a hint of wickedness made for a memorable performance. She could also manage the accent - “little” the shibboleth here – and got most of what few laughs were going from a staid matinée audience. Her duel with Gwendoline [Kim Tobin] was very amusing; the weapons sugar tongs, cake slice and engagement rings. The overbearing Lady Bracknell, heralded by a very Wagnerian ring at the door, was Elaine Roberts. She looked and sounded like one raised in “the purple of commerce” - in Act Two she was done up like a Lemon Fancy – but she bristled effectively; I liked the way her hat's feathers trembled with indignation, her pince-nez and her use of the sal volatile before “the line is immaterial”.

Carol Hayes was a pert, almost pretty, Prism, but she was a convincing academic, thrilled by German grammar, and had some nice moments with Ian Morton's eager Chasuble.

The Gilbertian dénouement was briskly handled, and the couples joined in a decorous dance to round off the piece.

production promo video from the Lindisfarne Players