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Oscar Wilde\u2018s satiric play, The Importance of Being Earnest, is a \u201cTrivial Comedy for Serious People\u201d. South Australia\u2019s State Theatre Company have sprinkled their own flavours into this delicious mix.\u00a0 The best way to describe the event would be queer and quirky \u2013 in the most over-the-top camp way imaginable.<\/p>\n
The plot begins with Jack Worthington, who becomes Ernest when he visits the city to see his friend Algernon. Both are confirmed bachelors, however Ernest is in love with Gwendolen, Algernon\u2019s cousin. Meanwhile, Gwendolen\u2019s mother, Lady Bracknell, disapproves of this union.\u00a0 This is no love triangle, but more of a love trapezoid. Perhaps Wilde was the original soap opera writer.<\/p>\n
Director Petra Kalive has taken the inspired step of having singer Carla Lippis open proceedings with a couple of songs. She is dressed in her trademark Weimar cabaret look: pinstriped suit, jet-black hair, red lipstick, and black leather boots. Algernon then enters (played to rakish perfection by Anna Linder) after playing the piano offstage. \u201cDid you hear what I was playing, Lane?\u201d Lippis is now Algernon\u2019s stiff butler Lane. \u201cI didn\u2019t think it polite to listen, sir\u201d. Algernon\u2019s reply that \u201canyone can play accurately \u2014 but I play with wonderful expression\u2026\u201d is a metaphor of modern self-indulgence. I think they call it Looksmaxxing these days.<\/p>\n
The first act takes place in the lavishly decorated morning-room in Algernon\u2019s London flat. Cucumber sandwiches have been prepared for his Aunt, Lady Bracknell and his cousin Gwendolen\u2019s arrival. Algernon\u2019s friend Jack (Ernest) drops in unexpectedly. Aglernon has Jack\u2019s cigarette case, which he left behind on his last visit. It is engraved \u201cWith love to Uncle Jack from little Cecily\u201d. Ernest (played by a charming Teddy Dunn) explains to Algernon that he has invented a brother, Ernest, to escape his country life, and he has a young ward, Cecily, who is an heiress that he has been supporting. Pia Gillings plays Cecily with charm, with a hint of sass, while Connor Pullinger is deliciously camp as the young Gwendolen Fairfax, who is waiting for Ernest to propose.<\/p>\n
Set and Costume Designer Kathryn Sproul has created a world that transcends modern and traditional landscapes. The revolving set allows the action to evolve from the London morning room to a country garden. The lavish costumes immediately add a sense of whimsical timeliness to proceedings. Lady Bracknell (played with aplomb by Glenda Linscott) is dressed in a schoolmasterish style, perfectly defining her rigid upper-class values. Algernon\u2019s flaming red hair and orange suit puts him square in the class of comic book supervillain. Cecily is pink and demure, while the confident Gwendolen is in a stylish floor-length blue evening gown, complete with black Converse highs.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a side story with Miss Prism, played charmingly by Nathan O\u2019Keefe,\u00a0and Rev. Canon Chasuble (Caroline Mignone) having a repressed love attraction. Wilde loved exposing the duality of life, the public image that everyone portrays versus the life behind the mask. This has been captured cleverly with a variety of gender reversals in actors playing roles.<\/p>\n
The play works as a whole with the combination of withering wit and sharp observations on social life, with a modern adaptation that keeps the play true to form with fresh ideas. The actors were melodic in delivering their lines, with a physical charm that ventured somewhere between slapstick and synchronised swimming. The laughs were plentiful and natural.<\/p>\n
The State Theatre Company have delivered a deliciously entertaining adaptation of a masterful play.<\/p>\n
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\nFIVE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)<\/p>\n
The reviewer attended the Opening Night performance on 12 May<\/p>\n
The Importance of Being Earnest plays at Adelaide\u2019s Dunstan Playhouse until 30th May<\/p>\n