REVIEW: The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatr Clwyd, Mold)

The last production I saw of Oscar Wilde's 1895 classic The Importance of Being Earnest lived up to the common conception that the play is a rather fusty, stilted, mildly amusing drawing-room comedy, performed with stiff upper lips and an air of superiority to the audience.

Not so with Richard Fitch's blisteringly energetic new production at Theatr Clwyd, which takes Wilde's magnum opus, holds it up to the light, decides that it's actually perfectly good as it is, but places it back down on the stage with a youthful enthusiasm that its creator would've revelled in.

The hallmarks of the play are all still there: the period setting, the lavish 19th century costumes, the acerbic and witty dialogue, the thematic intent to scratch the veneer of Victorian society to see what lies beneath. Everything that somebody going to see The Importance of Being Earnest would expect to see is there, but Fitch has given the presentation a jolly good shake and as a result, gives the play a fresh lease of life.

The Importance of Being Earnest (Venue Cymru, Llandudno)

Archive: This review was first published on April 5, 2013 by the Daily Post

First performed in 1895, Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest has the perfect, self-aware subtitle. It was originally described as a A Trivial Comedy for Serious People, and that sums up the entire thing well.

The plot revolves around the sticky situations two amorous bachelors get themselves into by leading double lives - "I'm Jack in the country and Ernest in the town" - and trying to secure the hands of their beloveds. As in life, lies always lead to deeper misunderstandings and never make a situation any better or easier, and such is the case for Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing.

As their double identities get ever more complicated and characters make discoveries they were never intended to, the humour comes out of those drawing room comedy situations which tend to make one smile rather than laugh (although there was one gentleman in the row behind me who seemed to be having kittens at the slightest of quips).