Huzzah! Taproot ends its season with a splendid production of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." Wilde is one of the all-time masters of society drama presented as farce, and the Taproot staging of this, his final play, could hardly be better.
Originally presented on a snowy Valentine's Day 1895 in London, it was greeted with howls of laughter and knowledgeable nods and smirks as the audience recognized its stinging commentary on contemporary social mores and values. Although the biting satire isn't as pertinent to today's social order, the play is still riotously funny, and Wilde's witty observations about marriage and class resound loudly.
Wilde satirized the very society he wanted to be part of. As an Irishman of non-noble birth, he was one of London's foppishly fashionable outsiders who adopted the behaviors of the truly upper class and were invited to their soirees. Wilde gained access to their world because of his intellectual and artistic brilliance, but he would never be allowed to truly enter it. He could, however, lampoon them and their values, and they loved it.
In this, his wittiest play, his commentary is at its sharpest. As in all farce, there are mistaken identities and misunderstandings. To be "earnest" is to be serious, intense, the exact opposite of the frivolity that marks the play. Ernest is also a name, and in this play it variously adheres to both male leads as well as to a nonexistent brother of one, who, in the end, turns out to be very real. It's typical Wilde wordplay.
The story revolves around two best friends who are young gentlemen of society. Algernon lives in London, and Jack lives in a country estate. Jack often gets bored and escapes to London under the pretense that he must attend to a fictitious rogue of a brother, Ernest. When in London, Jack assumes the name Ernest.
As Ernest, Jack falls in love with Algernon's cousin Gwendolen, the charming daughter of the haughty Lady Bracknell. Meanwhile, Algernon sneaks out to the country to meet Jack's ward, the sweet Cecily. But he arrives under the pretext that he is brother Ernest. Thus both ladies believe that they have been wooed by Ernest, whose name they like better than all others. Despite myriad ridiculous circumstances that arise from the mistaken identities, the two young couples decide they will wed.
Their plans are thwarted when Lady Bracknell learns that, although Jack is rich, his family pedigree is unknown. He was found as an infant in a handbag at a railway station. How can she possibly allow her daughter to "marry into a cloakroom and form an alliance with a parcel"? But if she won't let Jack marry Gwendolen, Jack won't let Algernon marry Cecily.
Of course, it all ends well, and there is much merriment in getting to the happy final moment when Jack proclaims, "...I've now realized for the first time in my life the vital importance of Being Earnest." It is the perfect last line, anticipated but so delightful that some audience members can't help but say it along with the actor.
Mark Lund's set is lovely. The play opens in Algernon's lush drawing room where subtle Oriental rugs rest on marble floors and a handsome Queen Anne table is set for tea. A painted landscape adorns the back wall, and through the doorway one can see an opulent wall covering of the sort that Whistler chose for his famous Peacock Room of the same era. It is elegance personified. For Acts II and III the set deftly transforms into a charming country rose garden and then to the drawing room of the country estate.
Costumes by Sarah Burch Gordon are beautiful and wonderfully matched to the characters. The male leads are vested, jewel or flower bedecked dandies, the height of elegance for poseurs of the period. Lady Bracknell epitomizes upper class respectability and fashion with sumptuously colored, layered silk dresses that give testimony to her money as well as her class. Her hats are minor masterworks, with whole birds, feathers and a variety of other ornamental enhancements. And young Cecily is a delectable, frothy pink, confection ... perfectly attired for her character.
Director Karen Lund has worked with her actors so that the timing for the laugh lines is impeccable. The interplay between Algernon (Aaron Lamb) and Jack (Kevin Brady) is stylish and finely polished. Pam Nolte's Lady Bracknell delivers her outrageous pronouncements with a self-satisfaction and authority that only the British upper class could pull off. Bethany Hudson as Cecily is a vision of loveliness made all the more charming by her well-wrought naïveté.
Gwendolen is the one character to whom Wilde gave no defining personality, and Charity Parenzini wasn't able to bring any to the role. She did, however, make a wonderful save when, on opening night, a prop malfunction came close to knocking her out.
This is a classy, uproariously funny production presented in a fashion that makes the most out of Wilde's clever wordplay and social commentary. It's an impressive finale to Taproot's 2007 season.
'THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST'
Taproot Theatre, 204 N. 85th St.
Wednesday-Saturday through Oct. 27
Tickets: $25-$32 (senior and student discounts available) 781-9707 or Ticketmaster at 292-ARTS or box@taproottheatre.org
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