A trivial review on a serious subject: The Importance of Being Earnest

^ Stolen from Sam's timeline cover 😁

If you've met me, you know I'm a big (huge!) fan of Oscar Wilde. He wrote one of my favorite books - The Picture of Dorian Gray - and some genuinely amazing plays. I'm equal parts jealous of and captivated by his creativity and wit.  

I've rarely taken the time to read through whole plays (I'm even a little light on my Shakespeare), but I've read almost all of Wilde's. One of his best* is The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People, a witty, somewhat farcical comedy about life, love, responsibilities, mistaken identities, eating muffins and bunburying. Written in 1894 and debuting on Valentine's Day 1895 at the St. James's Theatre in London, Earnest had an unfortunately short run. Wilde's ill-fated libel suit against the Marquess of Queensbury and subsequent conviction for gross indecency affected attendance, causing Earnest to close after only 86 shows. Since then it has been revived many times and has become one of Oscar Wilde's most enduring and popular productions. 

Speaking of a revival - The Importance of Being Earnest is currently being performed at the Lincoln Community Playhouse. I was so excited when it was announced last year and then very proud when one of my closest friends, the Honorable Mr. Sam Pynes, was cast in the roll of John "Jack" Worthing (ie. Earnest #1). I may have been fangirl-ing a bit the past couple of months. 😁😏 

I attended the opening night performance last night with my folks and some friends...and am going with another friend next weekend as well. 

The two male leads - Sam as John Worthing and Kameron Arch as Algernon - had a great fraternal chemistry on stage. Starting in the first act, the two engaged in a friendly antagonism, with Algernon enjoying pushing Jack's buttons...as any good younger brother knows how to do. The eating of cucumber sandwiches and then muffins were played with enthusiasm, while not interfering with the delivery of Algernon's lines. Sam's Jack was extremely expressive, compelling the audience to constantly laugh at his outrage, starry-eyed bliss and feigned mourning at his unfortunate brother's "death" by severe chill in Paris. 

Cecily, played by Jules Howard, did a good job personifying youthful, exuberant romanticism. She was girlish and melodramatic, making the fact that she wrote love letters to herself "from Earnest" quite believable. 

Out of the leading characters, Allison Mollenkamp's Gwendolen was the least memorable. Gwendolen was fine, but...though it makes me sound like a total snob...it felt like she performed the role, as opposed to becoming the roll. To her credit, Allison efficiently saved Dr. Chasuble when he forgot a line, gracefully giving him an out to leave the scene. 

As former backstage crew, I always take note of the sets and scenery. Each act had its own setting...Algernon's drawing room, the garden of Jack's country house and lastly his sitting room. All the furniture was well used in each scene - the fainting couch for both sadness and joy in the first act, the bench in the garden in the second act and the windows suspended from the ceiling in the third, from which Gwendolen and Cecily observed the muffin eating. 

Overall it was a delightful way to spend a Friday evening and I look forward to attending next week's performance! 

Do you have a favorite Oscar Wilde play? Piece of writing? Cinematic adaptation? While not a completely faithful retelling, The Importance of Being Earnest with Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon and Judi Dench is a fun watch, as is An Ideal Husband with Rupert Everett, Minnie Driver, Kate Blanchett and Jeremy Northam. I'd watch either one any day, any time. 😎



~ Katie Q.  🐧

* It's really a toss up between Earnest and An Ideal Husband for Wilde's best play. 



Quotes from The Importance of Being Earnest 

1. Algernon: The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!
2. Algernon: I hate people who are not serious about meals. It is so shallow of them.
3. Lady Bracknell: Mr. Worthing! Rise, sir, from this semi-recumbent posture. It is most indecorous.
4. Lady Bracknell: To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
5. Cecily: But I don’t like German. It isn’t at all a becoming language. I know perfectly well that I look quite plain after my German lesson.
6. Miss Prism: The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.
7. Gwendolyn: I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.
8. Gwendolyn: In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.
9. Gwendolen: I have the gravest doubts upon the subject. But I intend to crush them. This is not the moment for German skepticism.
10. Lady Bracknell: Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can’t get into it do that.
11. Jack: Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me?

Random factoid: I was curious if it was a coincidence that The Importance of Being Earnest debuted on February 14th, which got me wondering if Valentine's Day was "a thing" in the 1800s. Apparently it was! Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written ones didn't begin until after 1400. A poem written by the Duke of Orleans to his wife in 1415 is the oldest known Valentine still in existence. It was written while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. So while I didn't find anything that proves Wilde intentionally chose that day to open Earnest, I would be very surprised if it were a mere coincidence.