The Importance of Being Earnest

This production attempts “radical changes to the script” but Wilde’s scintillating dialogue sparkles, even through mouthfuls of muffin. Young director Benedicta McGeown has searched for contemporary connections in the play but the ubiquity of social hypocrisy needs no reimagining. McGeown may have altered how the show looks but the actors still allow the words do the work. Each well-known bon mot finds its target.

The two acts are differentiated spatially. Act I is elevated, requiring the male actors work the elongated area and lounge awkwardly on low chairs. The second act is performed down stage and there is a greater sense of connection with the audience. The set is simple, with lighting signalling changes in mood and direction.

Some of the physical humour in this production misses its mark but the pace and timing is excellent. All actors can be commended for well-articulated, rapid fire delivery.  There are very accomplished actors in the cast and they mostly they resist the temptation to overplay. Amongst the better-known performers, Andy Aisbett is thoroughly convincing as Jack and Ellen Roe is assured as Gwendoline. Prasaanth Reddy, last seen as Mr Tumnus in The Lion, The Witch and Wardrobe, is a relative newcomer who clearly relishes his role as Algernon. Victoria Bremmer gives Cecily the requisite naïveté.

Bil Heit, Heather Heron and Brendon Flynn are new or returning to perform with Hobart Rep. Bil Heit’s interpretation of Lady Bracknell is nuanced and interesting. She is a comprehensible social-climbing gorgon, aspects of the character sometimes lost when the role is played in drag which this is not. Some of the best moments of the production, however, can be credited to Brendon Flynn as Lane/Merriman/Dr Chausible. Flynn is physically versatile and genuinely funny.

Curious costume choices may merely serve McGeown’s awareness that human beings remain the same across temporal distance but be assured that this play still has much to say to modern audiences.

Anne Blythe-Cooper