The Importance of Being Earnest at QPAC until 1 November 2008.
Oscar Wilde's classic play The Importance of Being Earnest has weathered the last 110 years and still sparkles with wit. Wilde died a pauper in 1900 aged 46, having been imprisoned for the ‘crime' of homosexuality. Thankfully for theatre lovers around the world, his works have survived him and are still treasured for their humorous and cutting views.
Earnest is a farce about mistaken identities, crossed lovers (and cross lovers), and upper class shenanigans. Queensland Theatre Company's production is delightful and played for the laughs.
Robert Kemp's set and costume designs are fabulous. Rather than make it a period piece, he has made the play an outrageous, elaborate and flamboyant costume drama. There are nods to the nineteenth century but there are also sunglasses and opaque tights.
Kemp has successfully manifested his desire to make the characters into peacocks parading on the stage. His set is a stunning use of the Playhouse's cavernous stage, beautifully lit by Jo Currey.
Michael Gow (director) has assembled a cast of highly talented actors and they seem to relish the heightened and caricatured people they portray.
The two would-be Ernests, Paul Bishop (recognised by many Brisbanites for his Blue Heelers' role) and Bryan Probets both ham it up outrageously.
Francesca Savige is delightfully dizzy and naïve in her role and Georgina Symes is only outclassed by her hairdo.
Gow's direction calls for a lot of upstaging - normally a theatrical no-no. The danger with this is that the audience is often watching a funny little moment, oblivious to the actors delivering the clever dialogue. Focus is often pulled to things that are amusing but not important at the cost of words that are being spoken and not heard.
The man who steals the focus the most is the actor playing the smallest role, that of the two servants. The old adage that there are no small roles, only small actors proves true as Tim Dashwood steals scene after scene with his comic shenanigans. He's a young actor to watch, brilliant in everything I've seen him in so far.
People who come to the show thinking that they've never made the acquaintance of Oscar Wilde's work may well find themselves nodding and laughing as they recognise lines that have become part of our lexicon.
Some of the lines are quite risqué when you consider they were written more than a century ago. Consider: "The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she is pretty and to someone else if she is plain." Or: "All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."
And there are others that had me laughing out loud, thinking they could have penned by one of our current airhead celebrities: "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train."
For me, this production ran a little too slowly and too long but the pace may well pick up as the season progresses. Apart from that, The Importance of Being Earnest is an enjoyable night of theatre with plenty of laughs.
Reviewed by Katherine Lyall-Watson
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