The Importance of Being Earnest

Synopsis

Classic turn-of-the-century comedy of social manners. A very complicated plot that includes the famous "A Handbag!" line .. Jack Worthing is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax, daughter of the redoubtable Lady Bracknell, and cousin of his friend Algernon. They cannot wed until the mystery of his parentage (he was found in a handbag on Victoria Station) is resolved. Algy discovers that Jack has a pretty young ward, Cecily, living at the Manor and visits her pretending to be Jack's fictitious (and wicked) brother Ernest.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 9 July 2009

Quite a lot happens before the play starts. The musicians, then the actors, traipse through the auditorium to the stage. The cast form a line and look at us through binoculars and lorgnettes. Are we such a spectacle? Algy plays a bit of a Beethoven sonata (badly) at a white grand piano. The kitchen staff is visibly preparing cucumber sandwiches.

It’s as though director Irina Brown is shying away from the nitty-gritty of Oscar Wilde, pretending it’s something it isn’t, or perhaps softening us up for a “different” kind of approach. But despite some horrid sounds in the microphoning of actors’ voices, the comedy survives, gaining strength in the last two acts from the exceptional performances of Jo Herbert as Gwendolen and Lucy Briggs Owen as Cecily.

The first is willowy and febrile, with early traces of the gorgon element in her mother Lady Bracknell – played with unapologetic hauteur and weirdly strangulated vowels by [Susan Wo...

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Latest User Review

kilburncat - 16 July 2009:

Of course this is a highly entertaining comedy and it's given a spirited interpretation in this production, enhanced on the night I went by audience involvement who were undampened by the deluge which only stopped minutes before curtain up. The set initially may seem cold but the performances are engaging and on a warm dry summer evening this would be perfect fare. Three and a half stars I think....

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