The Importance of Being Earnest At The Stratford Festival
Krista Jackson’s vastly entertaining production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, currently playing to packed houses at the Stratford Festival’s Avon Theatre, may not be absolute perfection, but it will more than do until something better comes along.
Wilde’s “trivial comedy for serious people” is intricately plotted, wickedly clever, wildly improbable, and altogether charming. Its biting satire of England’s upper classes circa 1895 was so successful that today we accept The Importance of Being Earnest as being a more or less accurate portrayal.
Jack “Earnest” Worthing (Joe Perry) and Algernon “Algie” Moncrieff (Carter Gulseth) are seemingly good friends, but thanks to an inscription in an errant cigarette case, Algie has discovered that his friend has secrets.
It seems that Mr. Worthing leads a double life. He lives in the country, where he will not say. There he is known as Jack and looks after his young ward, Cecily Cardew (Marissa Orjalo), the daughter of his late adoptive father. He comes to London for pleasure telling Cecily that he must visit his wastrel brother, Earnest.
And so it is that he is Earnest in town and Jack in the country.
He is in London now to propose to Algie’s cousin, Gwendolyn Fairfax (Allison Lynch), daughter of the formidable Lady Bracknell (Fiona Reid).
Fortuitously, Lady B and her daughter are coming to tea. Jack/Earnest takes the opportunity to propose. Gwendolyn accepts readily and announces that it has always been her intention to marry a man named Earnest.
That’s not the only sticky wicket for Jack/Earnest. When Lady Bracknell discovers that he is an orphan of unknown parentage, found in a handbag, she can’t approve of the match.
Meanwhile, Algernon overhears the location of Jack’s country place and resolves to drop in unannounced in the persona of brother Earnest to discover the truth about this Cecily. Of course he falls instantly, madly in love. Complications ensue.
Everything is resolved happily, and in the most improbable manner. That’s part of the fun, of course, and the reason why The Importance of Being Earnest is the most produced English-language play after Hamlet.
Perhaps the main reason this Earnest is so successful is that everyone in the cast is obviously having the time of their lives playing Wilde’s deliciously over the top characters.
I will turn my attention to the ladies first, not just to be polite but because they are the best things in the show. Lynch is a perfect Gwendolyn, stunningly beautiful in a regal sort of way and fairly dripping in upper class privilege. As the preternaturally self-possessed eighteen-year-old Cecily, Orjalo is just as captivating as she is as Ariel in the Tempest – and in a completely different way.
What’s more, Wilde has given these two some of his best dialog and they play off against each other delightfully. Sisterhood is powerful and never as wittily drawn as in Wilde’s somewhat stylized portrayal of their instant and intense friendship.
As Lady Bracknell, English-born Reid is in a class of her own. Her timing and vocal technique are as impeccable as her accent. Although Lady Bracknell has less stage time than any of the principals, Reid makes her indisputably the star of the show, a fact universally acknowledged at the curtain call.
Perry (Biff in Death of a Salesman) and Gulseth (making his Festval debut) do well as the two lads. In the minor – but memorable – roles of Reverend Chasuble and Miss Prism, Ben Carlson and Lucy Peacock are pretty much perfect. Carlson, by the way, played Earnest in Stratford’s far less successful 2009 production of the play.
Sarah Sleen has composed a modern score for the show that has the benefit of signalling that this will not be your great-grandfather’s Importance of Being Earnest. Indeed Jackson’s production, while nodding to the period, does not hold itself obligated to recreate it faithfully.
I quite liked the costumes of Cory Sincennes, especially for the women, despite the absence of a consistent colour palette for the show. Individually, however, the gowns for Gwendolyn and Lady Bracknell are knockouts. Sincennes also provides Earnest a fabulous, top-hatted mourning suit for the scene in which he announces the death of his non-existent brother.
Less successful were the sets by Bretta Gerecke. To paint Algernon’s drawing room Pepto-Bismol pink may be regarded as a misfortune, but to then cover the walls with random tchotchkes looks like carelessness. On the other hand the exuberantly floral drop curtain is great fun.
The sets also require lengthy scene changes, which Jackson has choreographed with mixed success. Some of the bits of business used to make the process less tedious are clever or funny, others tasteless or pointless.
Fortunately, Wilde’s wit and the skill with which the actors wield his timeless lines are what any self-respecting production of The Importance of Being Earnest is all about. On that score, this production delivers in spades, even though Gwendolyn has never seen one.
The Importance of Being Earnest continues at the Stratford Festival through October 23, 2026. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Stratford Festival website.
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