Review: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, Actor’s Church Covent Garden
What a joy it is to be reminded of the exquisite writing of Oscar Wilde in the brilliant The Importance of being Earnest in the setting of the Actor’s Church in Covent Garden. It may not be a traditional theatre but the plaques that adorn the walls to pay homage to so many theatrical greats makes it seem a perfect location to celebrate the majesty of Wilde’s witty, pithy and clever lines of observation on the manners and aspirations of society. Its delightful theme that we “should treat all trivial things in life very seriously and all serious things of life with a sincere and studied triviality”, which resonates throughout and still feels a good outlook on life! Surely Wilde would have adored this production by Dramaiocht Productions which seeks to give opportunities to those who have not had a platform to speak from, regardless of disability, race or gender. When the 1980’s comedies of Ray Cooney and Alan Ayckbourn now seem so dated and laboured, it is remarkable how Wilde’s greatest play still sparkles with freshness despite being written 100 years before.
Gwendolen is in love with Mr Worthing because she thinks his name is Earnest and when his friend Algy Moncrieff pretends to be the brother Earnest Worthing too, Cecily falls for him as well. Both Ladies protest that they could only marry a man called Earnest and no other name will do; hence The Importance of being Earnest. The interplay in Act 1 between Worthing and Moncrieff is brilliantly written to glorious comic effect with a wonderful attention to the language. Here, they are dynamically played Connor Charlesworth as Worthing and Jack Reilly as Moncrieff delivering the lines with great clarity and gusto as we discover Worthing is Earnest in town where “one amuses oneself” and Jack in the country where “one amuses others”. There is great physicality to Reilly’s performance as he animatedly explains about his imaginary friend Bunbury who is an excuse for avoiding everything he wants to miss. As Lady Bracknell says, “it is high time Mr Bunbury made up his mind whether to live or die!”
During Act 2, the scenes between Gwendolin and Cecily are equally cleverly constructed as their relationship swings from instant buddies to angry rivals to embittered forlorn sisters and back again. They are beautifully played by Kathryn Daly as Cecily with a sweet childlike innocence, and Gwendolen with aloof posh high moral tone by Kat Dulfer.
Of course, the most famous scenes involve the matriarch, Lady Bracknell. In Act 1 interrogating Mr Worthing’s heritage and uncovering to her horror and disbelief that he was left in “a handbag” on the Brighton line and then in Act 3, discovering Mrs Prism who had absconded with a baby in a perambulator some 28 years earlier. Lady Bracknell has frequently been played by a man (in 2015 in the West End by Sir David Suchet) but here, the part is played by Mark Beer, the man behind the company and he successfully creates the formidable lady, delivering each line with determined sincerity (if occasionally stumbling over words). Miss Prism is played by Portia Booroff with charm as she moves from studious private tutor to unlikely romantic supplicant to distraught repentant child carer.
The production is simply set using three screens as well-chosen backdrops for each act set on the altar apse and simple lighting which casts, at times, heavy shadows on the screens and there are some confusion of entrances and exits as a result of the accessibility to the backstage area. The pews too are very hard seats for a relatively long show, but these limitations of the venue are overcome by the clarity and brilliance of the delivery of Wilde’s words. One has a sense that Dame Diana Rigg (who played Lady Bracknell on Broadway in 2006), Dame Margaret Rutherford (who played Lady Bracknell in 1946 and Mrs Prism in 1952) and Dame Edith Evans (who played Lady Bracknell in 1962) would have approved of this fine production and in the church where their immense contribution British Theatre is commemorated. It is a few years since we last saw this wonderful play, but it remains one of the greatest comedies ever written and this production is a charming reminder of Wilde’s legacy and deserved acclaim.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne
The Importance of Being Earnest plays at the Actor’s Church in Covent Garden until 17 Aug, with further info here.
