NOTE: Viewed in Florida via cinema
Oscar Wilde’s most famous play gets an authentic and fresh production which, with its three compact sets in three acts, comes over wonderfully via cameras.
Adrian Noble’s direction of The Importance of Being Earnest is all one could ask for. It keeps the authentic text totally understandable and the characters, even to two butlers, distinct. Why it is important to be E(a)rnest is that Gwendolyn (Emily Barber, uppity but attractive) will not marry Jack Worthing, guardian to Cecily (Imogen Doel’s lovely, silly country girl) who won’t marry Algernon Montcrief, unless each man’s name is Ernest. This ultimately involves each man telling the truth about his identity and being willing to sacrifice and to change his name for the sake of love for the women. Michael Benz displays appropriate devotion to each of the young ladies as well as Jack Worthing’s authority and obedience to duty, though he looks a bit young for the role. He is the opposite in mood and mode from Algernon, as delightful Philip Cumbus proves, even as he eats more sandwiches and muffins--indeed, food--than I’ve ever witnessed finished off on any stage.
Michele Dotrice gets many laughs as governess Prism. She’s always full of energy and excitement over the Parish Minister, shown by Richard O’Callaghan to be sweetly swerving from lifelong dedication to celibacy. David Killick and Brendan Hooper turn somewhat snooty butlers’ roles into real, if minor, characters. Occupying the play’s star role in this production, though, is David Suchet, cross-dressed as Lady Bracknell--Gwendolyn’s mother and Algernon’s aunt, strict toward both. Her pompous ways dominate each scene she’s in as well-- apparently--as her unseen husband. Suchet also keeps the audience in the palm of Lady Bracknell’s hand. Her classic questioning of Jack about his suitability to wed Gwendolyn compares favorably with that of women who’ve famously taken the role. Suchet almost makes me suppress my wish that, because it’s one of the few great women’s roles from its time and in English, men would sacrifice usurping it. The so suitable production design is not marred, as are many these days, by needless projections. Wilde’s perfect text exhibits technical perfection.
