Review: The Importance of being Earnest

It is Absurd

Review of Cheshire Academy Blackbox Theater’s  “The Importance of being Earnest”

By Oscar Wilde

 Directed by Marc Aronson, Aidan McBreen, and Allison Bass-Riccio

November 1-3, 2017
Cheshire Academy, Cheshire


Cast:
Jack Worthing: Tas
Algernon Moncrieff: Aaron
Lady Bracknell: Linda
Gwendolen Bracknell: Malika
Cecily Cardew: Mao
Laticia Prism: Huijin
Canon Chasuble: Zoe
Lane/Mr. Gribsby: Krystal
Merriman: Stella


The show begins in Algernon’s house. Algernon welcomes Earnest and tries to get more information of Cecily from his friend Earnest. Cecily is Earnest’s ward, and Algernon is very interested in her. Through the conversation, Algernon finds out Earnest’s real name is Jack, and Jack is pretending to be Earnest, who is Jack’s imaginary brother. Algernon confess he also invented a imaginary friend named Bunbury. Algernon uses Bunbury as an excuse to get away from his aunt Augusta Bracknell. Similarly, Jack uses Earnest as an excuse to come up to London to meet with Gwendolen. Gwendolen is Algernon’s first cousin, Jack comes up to town to propose to her. Although Gwendolen accepts his proposal, lady Bracknell does not approve Jack as he is found in a cloak room in a train station. Gwendolen wants to come to Jack’s place secretly so she asks for Jack’s address. Algernon heard the address and thus ready to meet with Cecily.
The next day, Algernon pretends to be Earnest and comes down to Jack’s house to meet Cecily. They fall in love and Cecily states that she likes the name of Earnest (Just like Gwendolen). Algernon thus thinks he will be christened under the name of Earnest (Just like Jack). When Gwendolen arrives the house, both Cecily and Gwendolen finds out both Algernon and Jack are not called Earnest. Algernon and Jack then has a fight. Later the couples reconciled. However, Lady Bracknell arrives. She again disapproves the marriage between Jack and Gwendolen. When she is about to leave, Dr. Chasuble and Miss Prism show up. Lady Bracknell and Jack through Miss Prism, unreveal the truth that Jack is actually Algernon’s elder brother, and Jack’s christen name is Earnest.


The lighting of the show is very simple (so I will talk about it first). This is because we altered the stage. We only had two month to select and put on the show, thus we did not have enough time to change the whole lighting set. Despite the fading and entrance lights, We have two main light settings: outdoor and indoor. Act one takes place inside the Algernon’s house, so the light is dimmer. Act two and three happen in Jack’s garden, so the light is brighter. We also uses indoor lighting for the act four, which happens somewhere in the drawing room.

This show has many contrasts. The theme and the title itself shows many contrast. The title The Importance of being Earnest, sounds like a cliche telling people to be honest. However, in the play, it is absolutely opposite, and the word “Earnest” is absolutely absurd, it does not mean “honest” but is a name. Despite the title, all the characters are not being earnest, or honest. Algy and Jack pretends to be someone else, Lady Bracknell is hiding her vular nature under her superiority, Gwendolen and Cecily pretend to be mature or innocent, miss Prism pretends to be strict, and Dr. Chasuble pretends to be faithful. Even Lane and Merriman consider themselves not only servants, they behave much much properer than their masters. Most of these contrasts, of course, are shown inside the language. Under the surface, there are many things that can be dig out, many social phenomenon to be revealed, many hidden relationships to be found, and many deeper jokes to be appreciated. The show, is thus itself a contrast as well: a deep and thoughtful yet light-hearted comedy.
For building up more obvious contrasts, and fetching clues to the surface, the directors used props and set pieces to reveal the contrasts (and similarities). For example, the costume differences between Jack and Algernon shows that their characters’ differences. Algernon is wearing overdone red suit, revealing his profligacy; while Jack is wearing formal and solemn suits, indicating his meticulous nature. Moreover, both Gwendolen and Cecily have simple dresses, but the city girl has a tighter lining and the country girl has a looser dress. In terms of staging the house, the triangles and chairs are moved to show both the differences between a city apartment and a country house. The useful costumes and staging decision hint the deeper details about the society. The simplicity and the flexibility of these choices also correspond with the nature of the black box theater.
I really enjoy acting as Algernon. He is a character who is really not restricted by anything except Aunt Augusta. Thus I only need to keep two things in mind when I am acting: be careful in front of lady Bracknell, and be crazy and childish in front of other people. Algernon does not value things much, he has no parents, he is probably very broken down by that. Thus he likes to be playful, he enjoys to be playful. Being playful means he likes messing people’s mind: he is always talking “nonsense.” He particularly enjoys playing with Jack, because Jack is always acting “seriously.” Algernon, in my opinion, loses his control on Cecily. I think Algernon does not mess Cecily up, it is more like Cecily messes Algernon’s mind a lot. The relationships are interesting when you look more closely to the script.
Based on the relationships, I was able to act more faithfully according to others’ actings. In some parts, I was able to respond people’s action based on my interpretations on Algernon. However, sometimes I failed to do that. This is because most of the cast members did not master their lines, including me. When the cues become obscure, or the lines disappear in my head, it really required me to analyse the situation I was in on stage to push the scene going forward. I feel like if we could memorize our lines, the audience will receive a better information, helping them understand the jokes, the plot, and the deeper messages.
But it is absurd to say we had a bad show. At least we made the time delightful and delivered one of the layers of the production: The Importance of being Earnest is absurd!

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