Reader Reviews
The Importance of Being Earnest (Vaudeville Theatre, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | Quite dreadful. I saw the fringe version at the Jermyn Street Theatre last year and that had everything that this tired and hackneyed version lacks. Where Jermyn Street's was pacey, fresh, inventive and most importantly funny, here we have an old-fashioned warhorse that creaks at every turn. The opening scene between Jack and Algy is interminable and raised no laughs at all. William Ellis and Harry Hadden-Paton are posh, irritating and poor; Penelope Keith slightly underpowered and Janet Henfrey stagey and amateur. Only the wonderful Daisy Haggard as Gwendolen redeems the whole sorry mess and steals the show. However it's still not enough to prevent my feelings of frustration and anger that this passes for decent West End theatre. One golden Wildean line after another was issued into a gaping void of silence. Steer clear is my advice! - Quentin | 06 Mar 08 |
| About as substantial as a souffle and you sometimes wonder how England survived the nineteenth century without a revolution, but Oscar Wilde's comedy, full of familiar epigrams, is beautifully realised in this production. Penelope Keith is the main attraction and her Lady Bracknell is exactly what you'd expect - more Margot than Audrey (appropriately as Lady B married into money) haughty and snobbish, her slightly understated performance is a masterpiece in comic timing. The only jarring note is Daisy Haggard's vulgar Gwendolen, an unpleasant reminder of her awful turn in the recent TV Sense and Sensibility. The rest of the cast are pitch perfect, mostly as various degrees of idiots, but the real star is Wilde's unmatched wit. - David Baxter | 21 Feb 08 |
| This is one of my favourite plays of all time and I liked Patricia Routledge when she played bossy Lady Bracknell in the West End a few years ago, but now seeing Penelope Keith perfectly cast as Lady Bracknell made my week. She was even more hilarious when she makes Oscar Wilde's famous dragon seem almost human. She gives the impression of being a very respectable pillar of the community but underneath her polite exterior there's a grasping old Victorian aristocrat and she can't wait to grab as much money as she can. I also adored Janet Henfrey as the elderly Miss Prism and Tim Wilton as her churchman admirer. We also loved Daisy Haggard and Rebecca Knight playing the two young girls being deceived by their respective suitors, Algy and Jack, who almost stole the comedy from Lady Bracknell, except that surely nobody can outshine Penelope Keith whenever she's on the stage. What a treat! GO! - Nazeem Chandra | 17 Feb 08 |
