The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest is perhaps the funniest play ever written, and it has been given the most immense justice in a production by the Roundabout Theater Company now at the American Airlines Theater. I took in a Sunday matinee yesterday.

The play was directed by and starring Brian Bedford, and the story has been that he is playing the indomitable Lady Bracknell. Apparently this is not the first time the role has been played by a man, but after Bedford's perfect performance one wonders whether in the future "Aunt Augusta" will become like Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, and forever be played by men. In a certain sense this makes perfect sense, because the characters in Wilde's plays are almost completely neutered. Though there is a lot of pitching woo going on among young people, and two engagements are formed, one can not imagine anyone on stage actually having sex.

For those who haven't read or seen it, The Importance of Being Earnest is a classic case of mistaken identity. The plot is too elaborate to summarize quickly, but it involves two bachelors, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff. Jack is in love with Algernon's cousin Gwendolyn, but she knows him by the name of Ernest. He is horrified to learn that his name drew her to him--she could not love him if he had another name, especially Jack.

Jack was a ward, Cecily, who lives in his country house and knows him by his right name, but believes he has a brother named Ernest, to whom Jack assigns all of his negative qualities. In a prank, Algernon visits the home, pretending to be Ernest, and ends up falling in love with Cecily. She has been in love with him ever since she heard of his existence--she too, has always wanted to marry a man named Ernest.

There also is the matter of Jack's parentage. It seems he was found in a handbag in a cloakroom in Victoria Station. When Lady Bracknell, Gwendolyn's mother, finds out about this she refuses to consent to their engagement. Of course, before all is said and done, some startling information comes to light about Jack's real family and his real name.

The play is frothy as chiffon, and beautifully mounted here. The sets and costumes by Desmond Heeley are exquisite, full of fripperies and flowers. I was particularly impressed with the bold, burgundy dress that Lady Bracknell wears in Act III, making her look something like a fire engine. In fact, Bedford's Lady recalls no less than The Duchess from Lewis Carroll, not so much dressed as upholstered, her hats sitting atop her head like barges.

The play is full of one-liners, and at times is really no more than a string of epigrams, like "Every woman becomes like her mother; that is her tragedy. No man does; that's his." Wilde takes a withering look at marriage and romance, as Algernon takes a dim view of married people actually flirting with each other. There seems to be a distinct repulsion at sex running throughout, and one senses that Wilde appreciates the perfect retort more than an orgasm.

The best scene in the play is the interview Lady Bracknell subjects Jack to when she inquires about his prospects for marriage. The most famous line from that scene is when, after she learns he has lost both parents, she replies, "To lose one parent may be seen as a misfortune, but to lose both seems like carelessness." Lady Bracknell is a collection of every bit of upper-class posturing, and Bedford hits every moment out of the park. Just the look he gives Jack upon entering the room made the house laugh.

All of the performances are inspired. David Furr is Jack, Santino Fontana is Algernon, and they are both good, but I think they are one-upped by the girls--Sarah Topham as Gwendolyn and Charlotte Parry as Cecily (those character names were appropriated by Neil Simon in the form of the Pidgeon Sisters in The Odd Couple). They have a scene together in Act II in which they both come to realize they are engaged to a man named Ernest Worthing and it's expertly accomplished. I also love Gwendolyn's line, "I always travel with my diary; I like to have something sensational to read on the train."

Rounding out the cast are Paxton Whitehead as the Reverend Chasuble, who is called upon to christen both bachelors with the name of Ernest, and Dana Ivey as the governess Miss Prizm. I hope I'm not giving too much away to mention the delicious way Bedford cries out one of the key lines in the play--"Prizm, where is that baby!"