Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Review by John Gardiner As I sit and watch the Stratford Festival production of Oscar Wilde's, "The Importance of Being Earnest", I am reminded that this is really the granddaddy of most modern day sitcoms....only this one is written quite a bit better than many. Still, the barrage of witticisms and one-liners, and the undercurrent of sarcasm that ebbs and flows beneath the piece would do any Hollywood comedic hack proud....it's really great stuff. Of course, one of the main features of this Stratford Festival production is Brian Bedford's Lady Bracknell and it is a joy to behold. Indeed, Bedford received a great ovation after uttering his first lines in the play and was a constant source of amusement the remainder of the way.... You can certainly read a lot into this Wilde play with its stark and rather bleak look at the English upper classes, where there is a complete lack of common sense and reason and glitz and fluff seem the order of the day..... As the play opens, Algernon Moncrieff (Mike Shara) and John Worthy (Ben Carlson) are busy discussing how each has devised a unique way of getting away from tiresome commitments and responsibilities to pursue more hedonistic pursuits. The womanizing Moncrieff has invented an invalid friend who he calls Bunbury and when he wants to get away, he goes "Bunburying" in the English countryside. Worthy has invented a younger brother, named Earnest, who he visits from time to time in London. It's not hard to imagine that both gentlemen's subterfuge will be discovered as the play unfolds and the stage will be set for some very funny shenanigans indeed. Add Bedford's Lady Bracknell to the mix and a couple of very spoiled and privileged young women, Sara Topham as Gwendolen Fairfax, Worthy's love interest, and Andrea Runge as Cecily Cardew, Worthy's ward, and the object of Moncrieff's affections, and things get very funny very quickly....When we saw the play at the Avon last weekend, there was great audience response throughout. The cast is very good, which is what I've come to expect in a Stratford production. All of the leading characters (Shara, Carlson, Topham and Runge) are certainly up to the challenge as they deliver the wonderful script with crispness and panache.....lots of laughs and suitably shocked expressions.... It is possible to see this play on two levels.....you can simply enjoy it as a piece of very funny comedic theatre – perhaps indeed the granddaddy of the modern sitcom – or you can see it as the serious social commentary it was and remains today. In fact, I was struck by how much Wilde's take on Victorian English high society and its incredible frivolity and shallowness is still completely relavant today. In fact, with the culture of celebrity that's been created in today's world by today's media, it is perhaps even more relevant than when it was written.. I enjoyed this production enormously and feel it is a real bright light in the 2009 Stratford season. It's worth the price of admission just to see the elaborate sets designed by Desmond Heeley – the Stratford sets are always innovative and stunning. So, don't really care whether you've seen this one before or not.....well worth checking out.