The Importance of Being Earnest is a fervent romp of a play which propels itself to Bedlam’s stage with style. Although a little over-exuberant in places, earnest is clearly not the word here as the actors look to exploit and satirise the Shakespearean storyline which the piece hangs from. They mock Wilde’s farce, and move beyond its strict, formal nature.
The energy the actors provide is commendable — it is infectious throughout the piece. At points, the piece becomes adequately romcom-esque, as the audience is sucked into some kind of mainstream TV drama before realising you are watching a play from the late 19th Century. The actors, especially Ella Peatie as Algernon, play off of the performative, obnoxious society this play is encased in. Claudia Collins is impressive as Lady Bracknell, injecting scenes with a stern, rigorously controlled voice. Jack — played by Safiya Kilroy-Friedman — adopts this heightened characterisation well and makes events unbelievable in the best way possible.
While this style works throughout the production as a whole, in the initial scenes the non-serious, playful style does take a little adjusting to. The actors feel a little tentative onstage, which leaves moments feeling a bit lacking in purpose and it hard to develop a connection to a character. Some moments feel a little preemptive or unsure.
Security in this style comes with the arrival of grandiose, genius duo Tai Remus Elliot and Zac Askham who flaunt themselves into the action as the ladies who compete for the imaginary Earnest (the man whom the women are both engaged to marry who ironically does not exist). Playing Cecily and Gwendolen respectively — they contaminate the stage with their stunning chemistry. Mulling over breakfast muffins or sitting at a garden table, they grasp the audience in the palms of their hands, delivering line after line with sublime comedic address.
Director El Mair throws everything at this production, and sometimes everything is a little too much. While the directing is fittingly done to suit the reminiscent style of the production, often the beautiful directorial vision is consumed by the sound or set design.
The set design is ingenious, offering a highly mutable landscape for each section — curtains suspended to section off rooms onstage or transport us to a garden. However, while impressive and plays into the excessive period style to the piece, the design causes more problems than it is worth. Curtains get caught on props, and the long scene change breaks are unnecessary. The integration of the backstage team into costumes is clever, and shows a similar concern for detail as with the set. Attention to detail is continued through directing which means that the production is engaging throughout.
The production’s ambition and aspiration is exciting, although it would be better to do a little less and still provide the camp love fest which Oscar Wilde always promises.
Photo by Emily Sharp (@emilyrosesharp on Instagram), provided as press material.
