If Seinfeld was a comedic television show about nothing, then Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest was Victorian England’s Seinfeld.
True to script, Plosive Productions’ Earnest, which debuted Feb.10 at the Gladstone Theatre, is a nonsensical farce seemingly devoid of meaning and brimming over with Wildian witticisms and bon mots. It’s a winning good time.
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The Importance of Being Earnest
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For this production, director David Whiteley moves the classic play from London to India, at this time, a colony under British rule. Whiteley draws connections between Calcutta and Canada – and the importance of community in both.
In arguably Wilde’s greatest masterpiece, Earnest revolves around two good friends with two secret lives. Jack Worthing, a man who, as a baby, was abandoned in a handbag, goes by Jack in the country and Ernest in the city. He creates his doppelganger “brother” in order to escape the duties and expectations that bind him in his country life and pursue a life of pleasure in town as Ernest.
His good friend Algernon adopts the moniker in order to jaunt to the country to pose as Worthing’s brother Ernest and meet the young, romantic Cecily Cardew, Jack’s 18-year-old ward. With both men claiming to be Ernest depending on the time, place and company, hilarious misunderstandings ensue.
The ensemble cast of Earnest takes this Trivial Comedy for Serious People to laugh-out-loud-funny. There wasn’t a weak performance on any corner of the stage. Matthews and Quirk, as Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff respectively, possess incredible chemistry between them reminiscent of a buddy-cop comedy, and their stage bromance culminates in believable brotherly love.
Steinberg and Bunting prove excellent foils to one another as Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax, Jack’s betrothed. One demure and innocent, the other cultured and worldly, yet both women find themselves in the same situation – engaged to a man called Ernest.
Their stage chemistry mirrors that of Matthews and Quirk, and their conservative catfight that almost ends in a cake food fight had the packed house in stitches.
Though the director’s goal of iterating the importance of community in our Canadian multicultural society is apparent and appreciated, the play’s Indian subtleties are such a mild departure from the traditional script that it’s jarring.
Every time a cast member substitutes Calcutta for London or Darjeeling for Hertfordshire, you’re reminded you’re watching an interpretation of a story, and your suspension of disbelief is extinguished. It’s impossible to remain caught up in the performance when constantly reminded that it is in fact a performance.
If Whiteley really wanted to reinforce his message, he would have had to have gone bigger – go Bollywood or go back to business as usual. The mixture of both conventional and Calcuttan elements does not a happy medley make.
That being said, Plosive Productions’ interest in reaching out to the Ottawa community through performing arts does leave the audience feeling they have been a part of something. The laughter and companionship shared by all can certainly inspire people to reach out to members of their own community, in earnest.
The Importance of Being Earnest runs at the Gladstone Theatre from Feb. 10-26.