Directed by Stephen Lee
CAST:
Dan Luxton
Angelique Malcolm
Craig Williams
Stephen Lee
Ben Russell
Rhoda Lopez
Whitney Richards
EARNEST was presented in 2009 at The Subiaco Arts Centre,
Western Australia (August 25 to 28) also at the Bunbury Entertainment
Centre, Bridgetown, Hopetoun, Dwellingup, Dunsborough, Busselton
and Esperance. |
|
The Importance of Being Earnest – Class Act & Bare
Naked Theatre Companies
Two men, neither named Earnest, court young ladies determined
to marry only a man of that name!
Wilde’s brilliantly funny and incisive comedy, sparkling
with witty and memorable dialogue, presents a lunatic world where
values are turned upside down and the trivial is elevated to supreme
importance.
Who did eat the last cucumber sandwich? Whose dead brother turns
up for lunch? And who was that baby left in a railway station locker
in a handbag?
Towering over the chaos, is the terrifying figure of the redoubtable
Lady Bracknell: “she’s a monster, without being a myth...which
is rather unfair...”
Following the statewide success of their ‘hilarious’ interpretation
of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Bare Naked and Class Act
Theatre companies present one of the world’s favourite comedies.
The West Australian Review highlights:
September 2, 2009
By Stephen Bevis
“First produced 115 years ago, Oscar Wilde's sharp, forensic
comedy of manners still delights for its playful satire of social
hypocrisy and the confected contortions that people perform to
win favour or to avoid their obligations.
This co-production directed
by Stephen Lee, who also performs two minor roles, does a reasonable
job of blowing off whatever dust
may tend to gather on such a polished theatrical artefact.
Lee and
his actors rightly allow that giddy Wildean wit to roll out over
the audience as one bon mot after another piles up in
a sly accumulation of evidence in support of the author's self-consciously
performative life as a dandy and aesthete.
In keeping with this,
Ben Russell is terrific as the fashionable pleasure-seeking Algernon
Moncrieff, who drops his one-liners with
tongue firmly in cheek amid his masquerade as Earnest, the mysterious
brother of Jack Worthing (Dan Luxton).
Jack, too, has adopted his
own false identity to escape the obligations of his country estate
and enjoy the pleasures of London. Much of
the comedy comes as their fictions unravel for both of them, imperilling
their romance with two young women under the imperious nose of
Lady Bracknell.
The Importance of Being Earnest has been performed
in repertory with Hamlet during its current tour of the South-West
and it is
illustrative to see the actors tackle such different plays in tandem.
Russell,
in particular, has been great to watch, though Craig Williams adroitly
steps out of Hamlet's boots to convey Lady Bracknell's
snootiness without descending into panto-dame territory. Witney
Richards is a bright and chirpy Cecily, the object of Algernon's
affections.
This is a play which suits Lee's nod-and-a-wink directing
style. As Luxton's Jack delivers the title line in closing as the
cast
pose in freeze-frame, the audience was clearly happy to join in
on the joke.”
THEATRE AUSTRALIA WEBSITE:
“
If I had a dollar for every person who has commented ‘Oh
not Earnest again!’ I would be a rich man. So, to be truthful
I was semi reluctant to go and see this play yet again. I dragged
myself along and thank goodness, I did, as this was easily the
best of the dozens that I have seen”
“…the script
was delivered with perfect pace and timing”
“…this band of jesters had the audience laughing
aloud for the whole two and a half hours.”
“ Craig was superb as Bracknell; in the style of Alastair Sim, he
was hilarious as the threatening and gruesome Aunt. It was so surprising
to see such talented Shakespearean actors, as Dan Luxton and Angelique
Malcolm, being so truly gifted in comedy.”
“
Rhoda Lopez, renowned for her beautiful singing voice, was most
at home with her aristocratic accent and hilarious part. Whitney
who was superb as Hamlet’s Ophelia, here went through a 180
degrees to give another brilliant performance as the naïve
and stubborn Cecily.”
“ One of the funniest classic shows I have seen
in years, with a magnificent cast, that worked fabulously as
a team. See
it twice!
Worthy of an Oscar.”
Gordon Johnston, Theatre Australia
