Importance of Being Earnest

[EmmaGClarke]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 6:44am

Now that this show has finally begun I feel like we can start talking about it properly! Has anyone else seen it? If you have, what did you think of their take on the play? I went to see it last week and wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
The actors are 'senior', shall we say. Sian Phillips, Martin Jarvis and Nigel Havers are in the main roles. All the actors are playing an am-dram group who are rehearsing for their production of The Importance of Being Earnest, which explains why they're all older actors playing sprightly 20 somethings. But they don't seem to do much with it - there's hints of some characters having an affair, the costume lady gets in a huff and there's a bit of a problem with the cucumber sandwiches. It doesn't go much further than that really. It seemed like they just wanted to cast these older actors and couldn't think of a way to use them without adding this extra subtext.
But let's see what everyone else thinks! Who has had chance to see it?

[ggersten]

Posted: 7/17/14 at 11:44am

Here is what I wrote after the first preview and posted over at theatreforum.com (the "new" Whatsongstage discussion board)

Ok, back from first preview. We sat behind the costume designer who was taking notes. Apparently, tonite was the first time they'd run the whole show. It does feel a bit incomplete. For those of you who expressed certain concerns, there are NO PROJECTIONS. The show ended just before 10:00 with a 7:30 start and one interval.

I did not get a program, and am not familiar with many of the cast except for Sian Phillips who at 82(!) was a magnificent Lady Bracknell/Livinia. (The perils of being an American in London).

My main thought is that there could be so much more done with the conceit. It works fairly well for the prologue and Scene I, but Act Two seems to abandon the conceit of this being a troupe of older actors "rehearsing" at a house. (Although a bit during the interval is quite well done). In the first "scene" at the house where the troupe is rehearsing - the prologue and first scene of Earnest - there is a prompter sitting in a bay window. She is not there at all for Act Two. There are deliberate Noises Off type of mistakes which happen in the prologue, quite a bit in the first scene, relatively fewer in Scene Two and I don't think any in Act Two. The "actor" playing Algernon (Nigel Havers, I think) is supposed to be a womanizer (which leads to a very funny bit in the prologue) but that is forgotten quickly and there are several opportunities for him to be more aggressive with Cecily as his actor character where she can fight him off or something. The "actor" playing the Priest is supposed to be a drunk who assures the cast that he enunciates perfectly when "acting" and he does - and he does start with over-enunciation which is funny, but he abandons that. Also, there are plenty of opportunities in Act Two for him to sneak a drink, but he doesn't. Not once. The "actor" playing the butler is Lavinia's husband and a "non-actor" (I believe the real actor is in his late 80s), and in the latter part of scene 1 he has an entrance in very ugly green hunting boots because he has been offstage and has gone out to the house's garden. It is a sight gag at present - that few seemed to have seen. No one on stage "reacts" to the boots. Cecily finds a modern book that excites the "actor" playing Cecily and yet in Act Two when she is reading, she is not reading that book, which the "actor" would have tried to do. There were so many opportunities for these little bits that just didn't happen. Also, this "company", while professional actors (one refers to her performing at the National with real budgets), rarely "overact" - although there are moments. The "director" is playing "Jack" and in the first scene steps out from being "jack" to be the "director" but this doesn't happen at all in Act Two.

So, I think the conceit works, but could work so much more.

That said, it is fine troupe of actors having a ball with some of the wittiest dialog ever recited on stage, and doing a bang up job with it. Some of the biting dialog from Cecily and Gwendolyn becomes ever more biting when played by older actors with so much experience. In the prologue, Sian Phillips' Lavinia does make a reference to the "actors" advanced ages and says something to the effect about the illusion of theatre. So, I applaud giving these actors the opportunity to show their chops with a classic that they might not have had a chance to perform in quite some time and might never get a chance to perform again

This is definitely in "previews" and there likely will be many changes over the next couple of weeks before it opens. So, i wouldn't necessarily rush out to see this just yet.

Oh yes, the day seats were terrific! Clear view of all the action - no pillars. A great value. And people behind us purchased their day seats on the internet. And there was a sign when we got to the theatre at about 7:15 saying "day seats available". I don't know how much longer that will go on. Stalls were pretty full - although lots of seats were taken up by creatives, friends and family. It wasn't just the costume designer taking notes.