REVIEW: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST- HAROLD PINTER THEATRE, LONDON

Lucy Bailey’s revival of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest gives the classic comedy a fresh new update, ahead of a national UK tour.

The Importance of Being Earnest details the lives of two upper class bachelors, Algernon Moncrieff (Nigel Havers) and John Worthing (Martin Jarvis) who alter their identities in an attempt to pursue eligible- yet shallow- young women, Cecily Cardew (Christine Kavanagh) and Gwendolyn Fairfax (Cherie Lunghi), who adore the name Earnest.  

Set in the present day, the play includes ‘additional material’ by Simon Brett. WH Auden labelled the production ‘a pure verbal dialogue.’ It is, therefore, unsurprising that Brett made the wise decision to keep most of Wilde’s original lines. The production has been given a play-within-a- play structure which works surprisingly well and sidesteps audience concerns that Havers and Jarvis (aged 65 and 73 ) may be too old to play young bachelors. This framing device is provided by ‘The Banbury Company of Players’ (which is presumably an in-joke invented specifically for this production). It is a clever notion which is given added appeal by the fact that Jarvis and Havers played the same roles in Peter Hall’s 1982 version at the National Theatre.

Image credit: Ciarán McGeady

The play opens with Nigel Havers sauntering on stage in a suit and bright red trainers, answering a mobile phone. It soon becomes clear that he will play Algernon (his-character-within-character), a role he has played for thirty years. We first meet the ‘Banbury Company’ during their final rehearsal of Wilde’s play which they have been performing for decades and, despite their advancing years, are unwilling to give it up. There is as much drama in the fictional cast’s lives as in the play itself. Costumes are still being fitted. Dicky is becoming increasingly agitated about the lack of cucumber sandwiches. Actors are sneaking alcohol between lines.

However, some of the moments from the surrounding drama lets the production down. For instance, the moment where Kavanagh’s Cecily picks up a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey and the melodrama surrounding Havers’ character’s affairs with various cast members are not as humorous as the rest of the play.

Despite its minor flaws, The Importance of Being Earnest features an impressive cast of British actors. As expected, Havers and Jarvis have wonderful chemistry as the two Earnests. Fresh from performing the role in Washington to critical acclaim, Siân Phillips plays the intimidating Lady Bracknell. Rosalind Ayres gives Miss Prism the sternness her character needs and Christine Kavanaugh’s Cecily is appropriately simplistic and innocent, waiting for the day Earnest will propose to her.

Subtitled ‘a trivial comedy for serious people’, the story is both brilliantly witty and undeniably silly.  This updated version of Wilde’s play that has endured- even though the Victorian audience it elegantly satirises is long gone- is worth seeing.