BWW Previews: VICTORIAN LOONEY TUNES IN THE FORM OF THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST at Carrollwood Players Theatre

Coming to stage at Carrollwood Players Theatre is Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest on July 12 through August 3.

Recognized as his most beloved and best-known play, the playwright lampoons the rigid Victorian society in which he lived. If you are looking for a serious drama, this is definitely not a somber theatrical work.

Jack and Algernon bend the truth to their liking to add some excitement to their dull lives. Jack creates a brother, Ernest, whom he uses as an excuse to visit Gwendolyn. Algernon decides to call himself Ernest when visiting Jack's young and beautiful ward, Cecily. Things start to go askew when the two men end up together and their deceit is discovered.

"It's Victorian Looney Tunes," director Clareann Despain explained. "Oscar Wilde writes intellectual zingers so beautifully that it's almost impossible to pick a favorite scene. It changes from moment to moment. I do find myself quoting the play in everyday life. It's just a lot of fun."

The play is both a satire of Victorian societal hypocrisies and their damaging effects.

A perfect example is a scene when two women, Gwendolyn Fairfax and Cecily Cardew discover they are both engaged to a man named Earnest and a misunderstanding ensues.

"That's what we call the passive aggressive cat fight. The constraints of Victorianism require that they say everything politely, but still try to convey their meaning and it has to be done sweetly and with decorum while they really just want to claw each other's eyes out," she said. "We have two amazing actresses Laura Fleming Roberts as Gwendolyn and Melissa Doell as Cecily. The two of them are able to capture that tension that occurs between what you want to say and what you want to do and your obligation to propriety. Watching those characters wrestle with that is just glorious to behold."

In addition to Laura and Melissa, the cast includes Cinda Goeken as Lane, Tim Curran as Algernon Moncrieff, Nick Noelte as Jack Worthing, Trish Farber as Lady Bracknell, Brooke West as Miss Prism, Kenneth Grace as Reverend Chasuble, and Douglas Ronk as Merriman.

"What's great about this show has things that will crack up the young folks and yet there's a lot of really subtle adult humor peppered in. It's a wonderful balance of intellectual wit and some bawdy humor that gets right down into the core of what it means to be human. It's about what we want to do and what we think we should do. Human foibles are kind of universal. If you want to fall in love with humanity again not in spite of their foibles but because of them, this is the show for you."

Clareann said that she hopes at the end of the evening, the audience is discussing the caliber of the cast and the performance.

"What the cast is able to highlight and bring to the text is beautiful. I think many people have read this play but not seen it performed like this, brought to life by a cast of incredible intelligence and instinct. They really elevate the comedy and make history feel immediate, fun, and relatable. It's going to be a good time - light fluffy fun, like a marshmallow," Clareann joked. "Who doesn't need a marshmallow?"

The Importance of Being Earnest is at Carrollwood Players Theatre, 4333 Gunn Highway, from July 12 to August 3. Learn more or purchase tickets at www.carrollwoodplayers.org.