Edinburgh Fringe 2024
The Importance of Being….Earnest?
Say It Again, Sorry?
Genre: Comedy, Interactive, Theatre
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
This is a knock about farce that’s true to the original Wilde plot but throws in some clever and interesting twists in what is a high paced, action (and reaction) packed seventy minutes of theatre, leaving cast and audience equally breathless by the end.
Review
Back again after a very successful Fringe outing in 2023, The Importance of Being…..Earnest? is a testament to the enduring popularity of Wilde-based theatre. The torrent of punters streaming into what ends up as a packed Pleasance Beyond is greeted by that classic staple of sets, the three sided box, complete with the elegant fixtures and furnishing redolent of early 20th century country homes.
And, whilst we kind of know what we’re going to get, there’s really nothing like good old commedia dell’arte and a good dollop of caricaturing to provide a much needed break from reality, with the added bonus of glorious facial whiskers in a couple of cases!
Algernon is regaling us with a bit of Daft Punk (I kid you not) on the piano as he and Lane discuss their plans for the week’s entertainment. They’re expecting the imminent arrival of Ernest Worthing, up from the country to propose to Algernon’s cousin, the fair Gwendoline Fairfax.
So far, so Oscar, and the audience warms to the familiarity of the plot, even if the acting does seem a little on the “hammed up” side and the actors’ movements somewhat exaggerated. Then the wheels come off the proverbial omnibus. Right on cue, there’s no Ernest.
Cue much rushing around backstage and frontstage as the “director” tries to amuse the audience with a dreadful attempt at stand-up whilst a solution is found. And guess what that solution is (clue – it’s billed as an interactive piece of theatre)?
Got it in one! Find some gullible idiot in row three to hop on stage and play the role of Ernest until the “real” one rocks up, if he ever does. No script? No problem, as the real actors feed our stooge stage whispered lines or ask him closed questions requiring single word answers.
And that’s the source of most of the humour, with the poor stumbling stand-in’s unpredictable responses either providing laughs in their own right or allowing the principals to generate laughter through their responses to what gets thrown at them. Acting is all about reacting, right?
However, that’s also where all the risk is in a piece of theatre like this. Get a compliant, frightened rabbit in the stage lights and the actors and off stage “director” can keep the show moving along, the laughter flowing and the audience happily involved. Pick someone who has ideas of their own, though, and there’s a risk it becomes a car crash.
No two of these shows are going to be alike but this one nearly came to grief as the number of audience participants rose and the number of professional actors on stage fell away. That it didn’t speaks volumes for the experience of those involved and their ability to recognise when things really are going wrong and do something about it. Quickly.
Top marks then to the polished professionals on stage – the dipsomaniac Lady Bracknell (Lucy Bryan) and harassed “director” Simon Slough (Josh Haberfield) stood out but credit to the others too, particularly Rhys Tees-Lane as he juggled the roles of Lane, Chasuble and Miss Prism with considerable alacrity.
But, in some ways it was the character that said the least that had the most impact. The much put-upon and pushed around backstage assistant Josh (superbly played by Ben Mann with a masterful display of mime and movement) uttered zilch until the denouement, whereupon he promptly conjured up an outpouring of love from the audience.
This is a high quality piece of theatre, very well scripted, tightly choreographed and directed, technically strong in its delivery, excellent in terms of comic timing, spot on physical theatre, some great slapstick and all whilst having to deal with the unpredictability of the ever growing number of random punters from the audience littering the stage.
Highly recommended for those who appreciate a bit of farce and absurdity and are happy to jump in at the deep end if selected. Still worth thinking about if getting on stage is the last thing you want to do. Just sit right at the back though, as I did.
