THE Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde's most well-known and best loved play, as well as being an enormous success in his lifetime. It is a farcical comedy about John Worthing (Paul Lawless) and his friend Algernon Moncrief (Toby Trimby) who make up identities. John claims to have a brother Earnest in the city, but actually leads a double life as Earnest himself. Algernon takes on the identity of Earnest to court John’s ward Cecily (Jill Richmond) as John tries to woo Gwendolyn (Lisa Watkinson).
The script is witty and funny and this talented cast do it proud. The actors have a great comedic timing and with deft direction from Linsey O’Neil this was a most enjoyable evening. Linsey set her production in the round which is a very difficult thing to get right and apart from one or two unnecessary moves she pulled it off superbly.
The entire cast worked well together and there was not a weak performance. I would however have liked Veronica Ryder as Lady Bracknell to say ‘A Handbag’ in the time honoured way. Setting this aside the five main characters were excellent and gave lovely performances.
Russell Biles (Canon Chasuble), Pamela Brewer (Miss Prism), Scott Sullivan (Lane) and Chris Walker (Merriman) completed this superb cast.
The costumes enhanced the whole production as did the music.
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