[NEohioPAL]Berko review: Importance of Being Earnest/GLTF

[Roy Berko]

AUDIENCE LOVES ‘IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST‘ AT GLTF,
BUT....

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	


	Each director of a play enters into his production
tasks with a philosophy.  As Charles Fee, the
Producing Artistic Director of the Great Lakes
Shakespeare Festival stated in his curtain speech on
opening night of the company’s ‘THE IMPORTANCE OF
BEING EARNEST, “I tend to like the broad.”  It is his
directorial broadness that will either endear or turn
you off to his interpretation of the Oscar Wilde
masterpiece.
	Fee pulls out all the gimmicks, shticks, and
buffoonery he can invent to get the audience to laugh.
 He does this, in my opinion, at the expense of not
letting Wilde’s wonderful words and ideas play for
themselves.  It’s a matter of interpretation and
degree. 
	Too much of the pure brilliance of Wilde’s writing is
lost in all the gimmickry.  There is just too much
begging for laughs.  Holding books upside down, visual
double takes, a bow-legged butler who looks like he
has been riding a horse for too many years, over-blown
entrance music, a handshake routine that appears to be
taken from a Marx Brother movie, inconsistent
stylization....it’s just all too much for my take on
Wilde.  BUT, the audience loved it…they guffawed at
all of the exaggerations.  And, pleasing the audience
is what Fee is about.
	Oscar Wilde was considered to be a wild man in many
ways.  His life style, his writing style, his clothing
style, his politics were all causes for gossip and
clamor.  The upper classes of Victorian England were
taken aback by Oscar Wilde’s attacks on their
frivolous way of life and meaningless existences. 
Since, as only Wilde could do, the plays were
hysterically funny, and he had political connections,
he got away with it.  	Most critics agree that ‘THE
IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST’ is Wilde at his best. 
His tongue is sharp and his quills piercing as he
attacks French drama, the British upper-class,
honesty, education, relatives, dentists, newspapers,
names, truth, Australia, vegetarians and even the
writing of fiction.  
	The play centers on a suitcase, two men named
Earnest, who aren’t named Earnest at all, a cigarette
case, an imaginary brother, and the mysterious
Bunbury.   
	Many theatre experts believe that in farce, the
characters need to be so real that we laugh with them
as they find themselves in improbable situations and
at them as they mumble through to the overdrawn
conclusion.   In Fee’s rendition, the characters
become caricatures.
	The GLTF cast is generally good, but there is
inconsistency.  Douglas Frederick as John (Earnest)
Worthing, is right on.  He looks, acts and is
believable in his role.  On the other hand, David
Anthony Smith as Algernon (Earnest), John’s
friend/brother, appears too old for the role and
charges through the part like a bull in a china shop. 
Wayne Turney is delightful as the Reverend as is Nan
Wray as Miss Prism, the tutor.  Aled Davies, playing
Lady Bracknell in drag, has some fine moments, but, in
general, he/she throws lines to the wind while
overdoing the role.  She comes across closer to Edna
in HAIRSPRAY than Lady Bracknell.  The usually
hysterical scene where she interviews John as a
potential husband for her daughter, became a police
interrogation.  Again, a device for laughs rather than
letting Wilde’s humor come through.  Laura Perrotta
makes for a wonderful Gwendolen, texturing the role
perfectly.  On the other hand, Kelly Sullivan’s Cecily
comes across as an airhead.  The fact that her English
accent comes and goes does not help.
	Gage Williams’ sets, Kim Krumm Sorenson’s costumes
and Rick Martin’s lighting design are all excellent
and add the right era-correct feel to the production.
 	 CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  Judging by the opening night
audience, most of those who go to see GLFT’s ‘THE
IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST’ will love it.  Those of
us who like Wilde “au naturale” will leave somewhat
frustrated. 
	Side note:  For teachers of school groups who will
attending ‘THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST’ be advised
that the director has prepared an excellent teacher
preparation guide.  It can be obtained by contacting
the theatre.
	‘THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST’ and ‘JULIUS CAESAR’
are running in repertoire through October 16. .  For
tickets to any GLTF production call 216-241-6000 or
800-766-6048.


=====
Roy Berko's web page can be found at royberko.info and many of his theatre and dance reviews appear on artscleveland.net.


		
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