The Importance of Being Earnest Reviews

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Good Points: There were some stand outs among the actors in The Importance of Being Earnest, director Ben Bergin (Algernon) could easily pass for a younger, more sprightly Russell Brand, the Cockney comic who was all over TV during the past year and islatelyunseen.
Mr. Bergin knows his way around this play. His wrestling with an errant seltzer bottle near the end of Act I was inspired. And Caitlin Gold ' s (Gwendolen) ' vibrations 'line rang with vitality.
Mr. Bergin comes by his facility with English dialogue honestly "he ' s from the Midlands. Unfortunately, his direction didn ' t extend his line-wise ways to the rest of the cast. They often rushed through their lines and substituted hurried rhythms for sense of the words. Lara Zaluski (Miss Prism) was a whole lungful of fresh air. She invested her whole self into every move, expression, and intonation. She was always totally, believably in character; her every reaction (hint: she listened) was a complete play with a beginning, middle, and end.

Bad Points: However, for most of the play most of the actors were busily posing instead of finding the enjoyment of the lives of their characters. There was no surprise in Lauralee Nicole (Lady Bracknell) for her or us. Every line and gesture had a just-as-rehearsed quality to it. She never discovered anything. She was not alone in this affliction. She also, like her colleagues, rushed her lines, rendering them sometimes unintelligible. Her accent was better than Josh Padgett ' s (John), but her acting style is storm and fury, signifying little. She betrays no trace of her spoken emotions. She is not there to evaluate Jack as a suitor for Gwendolen, she is there to emote for the sake of emoting. When she snickers at the prospect of her niece ' s ' alliance with a parcel, ' the word ' parcel 'was hard to understand. Jack addressed Lady Bracknell as ' Lady Bratten, ' an example of sacrificing sense for speed. In his haste, Mr. Padgett also sacrificed opportunities to play the opposites between one line and the next. Gwendolen ' s next speech was unintelligible, and that was the end of the verbal drag race that was Act One.

General comments: Benbokis Productions presented Oscar Wilde ' s most revived and revered classic at the Gene Frankel Theatre, 24 Bond Street, New York for four nights --May 6-9. This reviewer saw the last third of the first act and the complete second and third acts on May 7. The sets were minimal but functional and un-credited in the program. The costumes, also un-credited, seemed haphazardly chosen from various periods. Some could have been contemporary to the first production in 1895. Others could have come off the rack at Barney ' s. The lighting and sound were perfect "that is to say one didn ' t notice them at all. Britton Burdick is credited with lights and technical effects. With some notable exceptions the acting did not rise to the level of the writing. Earnest was the greatest success of Wilde ' s dramatic career. However, legal troubles with the father of his young male lover began during the run of the play and his fortunes began to decline. The play is nearly bullet proof. It has held up for 117 years and, if well-acted, delivers delight in its wit and allows the listener to savor every funny line no matter how many times she has seen the play. Wilde had such mastery of the dramatic form that he neatly and efficiently used the ancient Greek and Roman plot device of changed-at-birth brothers as a skeleton upon which to hang his barbs at social climbing, valuing appearances, and the difficulties of living a fully satisfying life, even if you ' re a member of the advantaged classes.Two friends "Algernon and Jack "each invent a friend to explain their frequent visiting in town and in the country, respectively. They both decide to drop their deceptions (and adopt new strategies to win women they love "both of whom are in love with the idea of marrying someone named Ernest.The two friends, their prospective spouses, and assorted standard stage characters "butlers wiser than their employers, a bluff, bull dyke of a bullying aunt, a tutor, and a minister "converse brilliantly. The sentiments sound trivial and are funny, but are ripe with satiric comment that reveals the truth behind what we usually say. Wilde ' s clear-eyed observations of human behavior and values are as clear-eyed and penetrating as anyone ' s "much more so than most. Alas, the promise was not fulfilled. I applaud the entrepreneurship and pluck of these spunky and clearly talented American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) grads and wish them much luck in the future. They made some basic mistakes in this production from which they can learn a lot.