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Writing for Us
A CurtainUp Review
The Importance of Being Earnest
by Les
Gutman
|
The truth is rarely pure and never simple. ---Algernon |
 L. Redgrave
(Photo: Craig Shwartz) |
This last is not inapt: W.H. Auden described Earnest as "perhaps the only pure verbal opera in English," and it is nothing if not a symphony of words. Yet it would be a mistake to think that the play falls in that category of drama enjoyed just as well on the page as on the stage. One need look no further than this production to appreciate how a performance can act as an accelerant to Wilde's words.
And one need only look at Miriam Margolyes to understand what I mean.
Miriam Margolyes?
The big names attached to this production may be Lynn Redgrave (who plays Lady Bracknell) and Sir Peter Hall (its director), but its shining star is Ms. Margolyes, the brilliant British character actress who portrays Miss Prism. A long and impressive stage career around the world seems bereft of previous New York credits, though audiences will certainly recognize her as Professor Sprout from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Mrs. Mingott in The Age of Innocence, the Nurse in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet and many, many other films. What she does here is set Wilde's words on fire, and then stoke the flames with every motion her short but ample body makes.
No one could quite match this performance, and the night I attended it was Ms. Margolyes who received the most enthusiastic ovation at the curtain call. But this is not to suggest that the other performances were not solid.
Ms. Redgrave's Lady Bracknell was a bit of a surprise. One of Wilde's unspoken puns in The Importance of Being Earnest of course surrounds the word "Earnest" and its proper name homonym. Neither of the two young men in the play who at times adopt the name Ernest are earnest, but Lady Bracknell is, and often hideously so. She is the linchpin of Wilde's satire -- the vehicle by which he skewers the behavior of the upper class, rendered especially piercing because Lady Bracknell is an aristocrat by marriage but not by birth. Sir Peter Hall, presumably feeling these observations are of less interest today, strips them from the play.
Lady Bracknell isn't the monster she appears to be in other productions; whereas Jack (James Waterston) and Algernon (Robert Petkoff) are very aware of how clever they are spouting Wilde's witticisms (and in Petkoff's case, very much so), normally, Bracknell is not: the bite of her zingers is deep precisely because of her earnestness. Here, however, one senses she's actually enjoying herself. It's not an unreasonable choice, but it deprives Ms. Redgrave of some of her ammunition, and the resulting performance, while perfectly fine, is less than memorable.
The quartet of young lovers (Bianca Amato is Gwendolen and Charlotte Parry is Cecily) acquit themselves very well if somewhat predictably. Mr. Waterston adds a bit of zest to the last act when it starts bouncing around the room, though he inexplicably throws away the play's final line, which incorporates its title. Terence Rigby is a bit underwhelming as the local cleric Chasuble, while James A. Stephens and Geddeth Smith (and in his limited role, Greg Felden) are right on target as the proper members of the serving class.
The show's design, by Kevin and Trish Rigdon, is period accurate and works well. The entire playing area has been set behind the proscenium of the Harvey Theater's stage, leaving the expansive thrust for additional seating (on beach like cushion chairs -- not comfortable looking but certainly priced reasonably.)
This review has been short of details about the play because we've reviewed it a half dozen times before -- all linked immediately below. For those who have seen none, this is a great opportunity to see it nicely, if perhaps not ideally, done, with a delectable treat of a performance that gives at least a hint of what more it might have been.
LINKS TO OTHER REVIEWS OF The Importance of Being Earnest
NY (Cocteau)
Berkshires
Stratford
NY (Aquila)
London
LA
|
The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar WildeDirected by Sir Peter Hall with James Stephens, Robert Petkoff, James Waterston, Lynn Redgrave, Bianca Amato, Miriam Margolyes, Charlotte Parry, Terence Rigby, Geddeth Smith and Greg Felden Production Design: Kevin and Trish Rigdon Sound Design: Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes with 1 intermission A production of Theatre Royal Bath/Peter Hall Company BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St (Ashland/Rockwell Places) Telephone (212) (718) 636-4100 April 18 to May 14, 2006 TUES - SAT @7:30, SAT @2, SUN @3; $30-85 (a limited number of stage cushion seats are available 90 minutes before performance for $15) Reviewed by Les Gutman based on 4/20/06 performance |
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