It is hard to imagine Oscar Wilde’s ‘Trivial Comedy for Serious People’ finding a better setting, cast or director than in this production in the open air at Chester’s Grosvenor Park. A work that has been loved a little too much on occasion, and given rather too many contemporary makeovers, The Importance of Being Earnest is a piece of writing in which the biting social satire of the text only really scores when the creative team trust the author and realise it with style and in period.
Here, in Natasha Rickman’s reading, Wilde’s words are delivered with pin-sharp precision and crack-shot aim, but most of all with a clear reverence and an understanding of how it all works.
The cast (all of whom are also appearing in Grosvenor Park’s parallel run of Gangs of New York this summer) are uniformly exquisite and perfect for their respective roles, which with one exception come in pairs throughout the piece. Lane and Merriman, the long-suffering butlers of two households are played by Tom Benjamin and Oisín Thompson bookending the team with real flair and almost balletic physicality. Lucas Button’s Algernon has a physique as slight and nimble as his character’s personality and there is genuine chemistry between him and James Sheldon’s John/Jack, who counters the other’s frippery with his bluff solidity. Meanwhile Hanora Kamen and Yolande Ovide as Gwendolen and Cecily are a splendid blend of elegance and acid drops, with their verbal sparring gloriously managed, particularly in the play’s big reveal as everyone is found out. Then we have Robert Maskell, the very embodiment of the country cleric as Rev. Chasuble, opposite Natasha Bain as a surprisingly youthful but wonderfully wrought Miss Prism.
It is, of course, Lady Bracknell who everyone holds out for the appearance of. A character who has been played by everyone from Judi Dench to David Suchet, it will forever live in the shadow of Dame Edith Evans, but Joanne Howarth here throws all the clichés aside and makes the part wonderfully her own. Whilst the entire cast have superb voice projection, easily meeting the challenges of the open air space, Howarth is stentorian and delivers her many proclamations and put-downs like a vocal blunderbuss.
Can I find any more praise than this? Well yes, actually I can. Designer Elizabeth Wright has filled the production with stunning visuals, from the clever, functional style of the settings to the intricate detail of the sumptuous costumes (none of which seem to suffer in the slightest from the shower of rain that they encounter at this matinee) and each successive scene has been colour-washed to give it a distinct chromatic theme, separating the various locations.
All of this, coupled with beautifully choreographed stage movement from Paul Isles, and Paula James’s light, airy musical score, adds up to 2 hours of absolute delight. Producer Storyhouse continues to present work that does what it says on the tin and puts storytelling at the heart of what they do, whilst maintaining the highest production values throughout.
Star Rating 5 stars
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| The cast of The Importance of Being Earnest - image © Mark McNulty |
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