‘Earnest’ Poster

For today’s riveting review, theatre critic Hannah Kramer brings you her thoughts on King’s Crowd Shakespeare Troupe’s performance of The Importance of Being Earnest.

Do you know what is a really funny word that more people should definitely work into daily life? ‘Bunbury’, or the verb ‘bunburying’. Maybe not, since it seems to mean lying about having a relative/sick friend in order to blame your bad behavior on someone else. But it works out pretty well for the characters in “The Importance of Being Earnest,” so maybe it’s okay.

Either way, KCST’s performance of “The Importance of Being Earnest” this weekend was full of bunburying, muffins, and laughter. Seriously, it’s impressive to think about how many muffins those actors must have eaten over the last few weeks while putting this show together. You’ve got to respect that dedication, both to the theater and to muffins.

Oscar Wilde’s play is a classic, the kind of classic you were probably forced to read in high school while your teacher exclaimed about its hilarity and your eyes glazed over. It was published in the late 19th century, so it’s in the kind of English that is totally understandable if you listen closely but also kind of annoying to interpret. Luckily, KCST’s production made the slightly out-of-date dialogue relatable and (most importantly) hilarious.

Hilarity in “The Importance of Being Earnest” came from a number of places, of which my favorite was the characters’ accents. Accents are funny, particularly well-done, and were a great combination of the affected tone of the grossly wealthy, Victorian English and 1950’s city slickers. Sounds weird, but it was effective.

The actors were clearly committed to their roles, giving their all even to the scenes based in physical comedy, such as the stand off between male leads Jack (David Gassett GS’15) and Algernon (Nathaniel Jameson CC’18) over tea and (of course) muffins, a scene where the consumption of said muffins made the dialogue fairly unintelligible and the physical comedy therefore important. The facial expressions of Lady Bracknell in particular, played by Henrietta Steventon CC’18, were both appropriately and amusingly stuck-up.

Wilde’s play was originally a satire of Victorian culture, and makes a transition to the domestic culture of the 1950’s easily. The men are playful caricatures of suave society men that age, as clearly stated by Algernon’s classy seersucker country suit. The idea that women would be shallow and silly enough to choose husbands based on the name Ernest seems to work with the image of the frivolous 1950’s housewife, played to a T. Plus, it allows the characters to wear cat-eye glasses, which is never a bad thing.

KCST’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” was a great way to start off their 20th season, both as a great performance and a reminder of the importance both of muffins and of the ever-useful bunbury.

Photo courtesy of KCST Facebook