A Trivial Comedy for Serious People!
September happens to be my favorite month. Perhaps it is because my birthday is in September. This year I received the nicest birthday present ever: A ticket to see the Guthrie Theater’s recent production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Unequivocally known as Oscar Wilde’s most popular comic play, this endlessly funny comedy about courtship, fictitious identities, cucumber sandwiches, and the unwelcome social obligations in a [delightfully superficial] polite society satisfies on every level. A cast that couldn’t be better. Gorgeous set design and costumes. Superb direction that never loses its momentum and captures the splendid rhythm and essence of Oscar Wilde’s dialogue.
“Good heavens! Lane! Why are there no cucumber sandwiches? I ordered them specially.”
“There were no cucumbers in the market this morning, sir. I went down twice.”
“No cucumbers!”
“No, sir. Not even for ready money.”
…
Just in case you have neither seen or read this classic play, here is a brief plot summary from Guthrie’s own introduction:
“In Oscar Wilde’s most perfect comedy, loved for its sensational characters and popular one-liners, young bachelors Jack and Algernon each assume a pseudonym to woo the women who have won their hearts. Abandoned in London’s Victoria Station as an infant and now living in a country manor, Jack has fallen in love with Algernon’s cousin Gwendolen, the daughter of the formidable Lady Bracknell. In order to meet with her in London he invents “Ernest,” a fictitious brother who demands his attention in the city. Meanwhile Algernon escapes his obligations in London to visit his friend “Bunbury” in the country. There Algernon meets and falls in love with Jack’s ward Cecily, and the stage is set for clever manipulations and hilarious confusion. When each gentleman is forced to unwind his web of lies and reveal himself to the ladies – and in Jack’s case, his parentage to Lady Bracknell – being earnest takes new meaning.”
Minnesotans who have not yet had the pleasure of seeing The Importance of Being Earnest should consider paying a visit to the Guthrie Theater, where a perfectly satisfactory production of Wilde’s masterwork from 1895, directed by Joe Dowling and featuring Linda Thorson as Lady Bracknell, John Skelley as Algernon Moncrieff, Nick Mennell as Jack Worthing, Heidi Armbruster as Gwendolen Fairfax and Erin Krakow as Cecily Cardew, alongside longtime Guthrie actors Richard S. Iglewski (Rev. Canon Frederick Chasuble), Suzanne Warmanen (Miss Laetitia Prism) and Kris L. Nelson (Lane / Merriman), opened on September 17, 2009 and continues through November 8, 2009 on the Wurtele Thrust Stage.
What can I say? Cool as a cucumber!
Thanks RO!
Photo credit: Still image from The Importance of Being Earnest Sneak Peek at Guthrie Theater.
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