"The Importance of Being Earnest" Review 8/1/08
Tony Curulla
Simply New Theatre offers up something rather old (first produced in 1895), but fresh and flippant, nevertheless, in its well done presentation of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest".
This "comedy of manners" is a well-constructed dramatic piece of social criticism that delves into themes of Victorian morality/immorality, the nature of marriage, and human hypocrisy, especially of the upper class.
Most interesting of all is how a play fashioned in and of late 19th-century England can hold up so well with a 21st-century American audience armed with 21st-century comedic sensibilities. It does hold up very well, and it's because of Wilde's satiric writing.
And it's also because of Garrett Heater's direction of a skilled and experienced ensemble of performers.
Basically, a comedy that (like so many) revolves around mixed identities and love interests, Wilde's finely-drawn characters, as executed by this group of actors, is what makes this piece soar.
Every member, whether practiced or by intuition, delivers an authentic English accent, so that after a bit, you don't hear or seek it out. It feels, as it should, genuinely and believably there.
Both Robb Sharpe's John "Ernest" Worthing and Heater's own Algernon Moncrieff are wonderfully playful with physical movement and ironic facial expressions, while Bill Molesky's Lady Bracknell is so well-caricatured in drag, that he/she, indeed, smacks of the overbearing, in-control, moneyed matron.
Amy Blumer's Gwendolyn Fairfax makes for a very comely romantic interest for Worthing, as does Katey Hart's Cecily Cardew as she works her innocent feminine charms on Moncrieff.
Dan Tursi, turns in his usual director's cap for a butler's suit as Lane, manservant to Moncrieff, and creates the archetype with expected, underplayed British tolerance.
Gertie Swanson's three, very specific set designs for each of the three acts work very well with a minimum of movement and frills, yet create the proper feel for the time and place.
It's refreshing to see a revival of smart, subtle comedy.
Details: Length of performance: two hours, twenty minutes, incl. two ten-minute intermissions
Attendance: Approx. 70 (almost capacity)
Family Guide: Too subtle for kids, but nothing objectionable