“The truth is never pure and rarely simple.” That truism permeates Oscar Wilde’s classic, The Importance of Being Earnest. Diane and I drove into the heart of Buffalo to view this play at the Irish Classical Theater Company’s wonderful venue. It was a “masked” performance so all the audience wore face coverings.
The play concerns two Victorian gents who are friends who share a tendency to fabricate. Algernon Moncrieff (Ben Michael Moran), who says that truth is never pure and rarely simple, has invented a sick friend named “Bunbury” who he has to visit occasionally in the country (which gets him out of social occasions in London that he disdains). Algernon’s friend John Worthing (Josh Wilde) has invented a rascal of a brother named “Ernst” which allows him an excuse to leave the country and go the London.
Both men fall in love with women who share a similar passion: they want to fall in love with a man named “Ernst.” Melinda Capeles as Gwendolen and Renee Landrigan as Cecily are both dazzling as the love interests. Chris Kelly (no relation) is convincing as the formidable Lady Bracknell, mother to Gwendolen and the key to everyone’s possible happiness. This is a great play that in this case was very well acted. Are you an Oscar Wilde fan? GRADE: A
I really really enjoy Wilde — in small doses.
Dan, I just read about Wilde’s time in prison in Sarah Bakewell’s HUMANLY POSSIBLE. A very grim time for Wilde: hard labor is no fun. “Wilde lost almost all of his possessions to pay the imposed legal costs…. Wilde himself was put to hard labor in Pentonville, working the treadmill and picking oakum: a deliberately punitive finger-shredding job, teasing apart old tarry ropes to be recycled as a fibrous sealant.”
A delightful play, and a favorite.
Jerry, I’ve seen THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST live six times. Have you seen the 2002 movie version starring:
Rupert Everett as Algernon “Algy” Moncrieff
Colin Firth as John “Jack” Worthing/Ernest
Frances O’Connor as Gwendolen Fairfax
Reese Witherspoon as Cecily Cardew
Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell
Tom Wilkinson as Dr Chasuble
Anna Massey as Miss Prism
Edward Fox as Lane
Patrick Godfrey as Merriman
I forgot that version. We’ve seen it too.
Jeff, I may watch it again. I have it on DVD around here somewhere.
Yes. I enjoy his droll humor which tends to mask less amusing truths. But I also agree with Dan—Wilde in small doses is the way to go: read too much at one time and his style can get rather irritating.
Deb, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST was a success in 1895 yet still draws audiences almost 130 years later. Impressive!
I love IMPORTANCE. I’ve seen the movie version with Edith Evans several times. We saw it in London in 1999 with Patricia Routledge (Hyacinth Bucket herself) as Lady Bracknell. In 2011 we saw it on Broadway in a production directed by Brian Bedford, who played a cross-dressing Lady Bracknell himself.
We’ve also seen Wilde’s AN IDEAL HUSBAND on Broadway in 1996, though I must admit I do not really remember it. I believe David Yelland and Hannah Gordon were in it. (Of course, Deb will tell you that Yelland played the butler/valet George to David Suchet’s Poirot.)
I don’t think we’ve ever seen A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE.
I have seen the Hurd Hatfield/George Sanders PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1945), for which Angela Lansbury got her second Oscar nomination before the age of 20.
Jeff, the SHAW FESTIVAL in Niagara-on-the-Lake usually features a play from Oscar Wilde every few years.
Speaking of David Suchet, he has also played Lady Bracknell in a production of “Earnest”. Much like the character of the mother in “Hairspray”, Lady Bracknell now seems to have evolved into a role for a male actor.
And I think I saw it at the Shaw Festival. Wish I had saved all the programs! Also, at local theaters here and the movie. Always a fun evening. Nobody here is masking any longer much to some of my friends distress. But the numbers are the lowest they’ve been since March 2020.
Patti, Diane and I still wear our N95 masks every time we go out. We get a lot of looks. Yes, we saw THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST at the Shaw Festival, too. Always a delight! Diane and I may attend some Shaw Festival plays in September and October before their season ends. Right now the traffic on the International Bridges have wait times up to 2 hours!
Either traitorous fingers or the beloved WordPress spell-wrecker keeps pushing your Ernests to Earnest or Ernst…I’m a Wilde fan, but will watch the work of predecessor Oliver Goldsmith or successor Noel Coward with at least as much enthusiasm…and for no compelling reason, given the time lag between Goldsmith and Wilde particularly, they tend to form a triumvirate of Brit farceurs in my brainbox.
Todd, WORDPRESS changes almost everything I write into something else! It doesn’t ask permission, it just does its changes regardless of whether it’s right or wrong.
I’d like to think that Wilde’s cultural legacy and the continued freshness of his work is some kind of compensation for the injustice he suffered. So much of it holds up so well. I’ve always favored his fiction, particularly “The Canterville Ghost” and his fairy tales and just last night read a poem of his about Pan in the British Library anthology “The Horned God” that also features fiction by Algernon Blackwood, Saki, E.M. Forster and of course, Arthur Machen. I’ve also read “The Picture of Dorian Grey” a couple of times (the annotated edition is really illuminating) and am happy to see the book has been something of a thing on TikTok for the past year. The 1945 Albert Lewin film is a slow, at times awkwardly tame take but very underrated, particularly Hurd Hatfield’s performance, and well worth checking out.
Byron, just by coincidence I just unearthed the Oxford University Press paperback volume of THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF OSCAR WILDE. I plan to read it soon and post a review here.