Theatre company Say It Again, Sorry? brought their smash Fringe hit Earnest? to the King's last week, turning Oscar Wilde’s classic of mistaken identity on its head in a brilliantly unruly take that joyfully challenges theatrical convention.
It’s a play within a play. A theatre company attempts to perform The Importance of Being Earnest—but there's one small hiccup. The lead actor is missing. In a frenzy, frazzled director (Simon Slough) plucks a bewildered audience member to step in. Watching a civilian flounder through Wildean wit and theatrical disasters is comedy gold. While it evokes the calamity of Mischief Theatre’s The Play That Goes Wrong, this piece sneaks in a sharper dose of social commentary beneath the farce.
As the play unravels, so does the cast—more actors drop out, more unsuspecting audience members get dragged in. It has potential to fall apart, yet somehow never loses its grip. Ben Mann exhibits strong physical comedy as panicked stage manager Josh, while Guido Garcia Lueches (Algernon) and Rhys Tees (Merriman, among many other roles) deliver hilarious performances with top-tier crowdwork and improvisation that keeps the whole delightfully messy piece moving along. Trynity Silk and Judith Amsenga play all female characters effortlessly, even when illness strikes.
No two shows are ever the same - each night hinges on whoever’s brave (or unfortunate) enough to be pulled from the crowd. The evening I attended was side-splitting, with audience laughter from start to finish. What makes Earnest? so appealing is its fearless approach to audience interaction—it's not just breaking the fourth wall, it’s tearing it down and repurposing the bricks. It redefines what interactive theatre can be, daring us to consider not just what we’re watching, but how we’re complicit in its unfolding. More please!
Earnest? Was at Kings Theatre Glasgow until 10 May.
Photo Credit: Earnest?
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