REVIEW: The Importance of Being Earnest, Bear Pit Theatre, 23rd March
The Importance of Being Earnest, Bear Pit Theatre, 23rd March
Review by Peter Buckroyd
SWEET Sorrow Theatre Company’s production of Oscar Wilde’s timeless comedy played to good houses – packed on the closing night – and was directed by Abigail Halden to appeal to everyone: telling the story clearly to those who didn’t know the play and adding lots of touches to amuse those who knew it well. As a result it came across as quite a breath of fresh air.
Jack (Edward Loboda) and Algernon (Benjamin May) were well contrasted physically and vocally, Algernon adopting the languorous posture of a famous Victorian photograph and Jack stolid and without any physical eccentricities. There was an interesting and effective mix of costumes, too, with salutes to the Victorian in Algernon’s costume, a more modern style in Jack’s and a splendidly ornamental and overblown costume and hat for Lady Bracknell (Skye Witney).
The characterisation of Lady Bracknell was interesting, eschewing the extravagance and Victorian accent of Edith Evans’s portrayal and adding an unexpected element by presenting Lady Bracknell’s phoniness shown as she spouted Victorian etiquette and yet held her teacup in a distinctly modern way. I loved the portrayal of Cecily (Gin Niemtus) as a petulant teenager stamping her feet in frustration and making one modern grumpy teenager facial expression after another. She was the perfect counterpart to Catherine Grimhilde’s vacuous but ingratiating Gwendolen. Their scenes together were for me the highlights of the production.
Other little details caught my interest, too. Merriman’s sneering smile, amusingly anticipating every request of Algernon’s, was interchangeable with Lane (both played by Josh Caldicott) suggesting how the ‘lower orders’ were seen by role rather than character and personality. Merriman eavesdropped, ironically building on Lane’s comment to Algernon that he didn’t think it polite to listen to his piano playing. The change in the Army Lists from ‘Markby, Migsby, Moggs’ to ‘Markby, Markby and Markby’ was an unexpected and delightful reminder of what we had heard earlier. Best of all, though, was the way Cecily and Gwendolyn rushed to their diaries to record the conversation between Lady Bracknell and Miss Prism (Cassandra Wilson) in Act III. And Abigail Hilden didn’t neglect to cater for those who liked slapstick in the overblown posturing of Dr Chasuble (Nicky Cheung).
All of those themes of social climbing, the ruthless desire for money, the dominance of family when it comes to marriage, pretence and hypocrisy which we all recognise from our contemporary society were there, suggesting that 2024 is not as different from 1895 as we might think.re there, suggesting that 2024 is not as different from 1895 as we might think.
