'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde
31 August 2012It’s many years since I saw a production of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (apart from the spoof ‘Spyski or The Importance of Being Honest’ by Peepolykus, reviewed here in April 2009) but, attending an outdoor performance of the play by The Pantaloons at Woburn Abbey the weekend before last, I discovered that I still knew most of Oscar Wilde’s text off by heart. Wilde’s knowing sarcasm worked well in the necessarily exaggerated delivery that an open air production requires. The Pantaloons gave a charmingly silly performance with a few very funny additions to the original – Jack and Algernon’s journeys from the town to the country in the form of a musical montage, a wonderful cinematic re-cap at the beginning of the second half (“previously on Earnest …”) and an interval ‘Bracknell Factor’ competition (looking for the best enunciation of “a handbag?”) which led to a wonderful pay-off at the end of the play. All the cast were very funny but there was some great added humour with Producer Mark Hayward having to deputise at the last minute for the indisposed Helen Taylor as Gwendolen and Miss Prism.
posted by Robin Simpson @ 11:18 am
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