The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest, while being one of the most oft produced plays in community theatre, is still a very popular choice for both audiences and theatre companies. Well done, as this production is, it cannot fail to charm - and remains an extremely funny play despite, as director Douglas Sutherland Bruce points out in his program notes, some of the satire now falling flat.

Garrick has produced a fairly conventional incarnation of this play, allowing character, language and humour to shine. A beautiful looking show, James Nailen has created three distinct settings on the small Garrick stage, and these are nicely finished and dressed. Caileb Hombergen-Crute has created a lighting design that works well (and is also responsible for an effective soundscape). Costumes are quite exquisite as created by Marjorie de Caux, Coleen Bradford and Sarah-Jane Hombergen-Crute  - with some particularly impressive millinery.

Our earnest young men are well created, with a lovely sense of camaraderie and effective team-work. Sean Wcislo is a charming Algernon Moncreiff, who has obviously put much more effort into developing his character than getting his bio to whomever did the program. Jonathan Hoey is a gently aristocratic Jack, with lovely breeding and a lovely sense of responsibility. Both have a nice connection with their respective love interests.

Pauline Rosman reprises the role of Gwendolen Fairfax, previously played at Curtin University’s Hayman Theatre. She brings elegance, wit and an ever-so-slightly-raised-eyebrow to the role. Olivia Fellows, in her first adult lead, is a sweet but cheeky Cecily Cardew. I am not sure why this production decided to make Cecily Australian (it is mentioned a couple of times and her fortune is at least partly in Kalgoorlie gold) but it doesn’t detract from the show.

 Siobhan Vincent is a rather imperious and quite formidable Lady Bracknell - without a hint of Edith Evans - and looks amazing during her impressive performance. Kerry Goode is a sweet Miss Prism, with gorgeous facial expression, who works beautifully with Ray Egan’s rather unique and slightly shaky Canon Chasuble.

Alan Shaw very nicely plays both butlers - Lane and Merriman - making a very notable physical transformation at interval. In this incarnation, Merriman is both very elderly and mute, with his lines delivered by two enthusiastic young maids played by Jenna McGougan-Shaw and Samantha Compton. While the girls’ timing is impeccable, I am not sure that the way the lines were divided between the two of them rings true.

Well paced, crisp and well understood, Garrick’s The Importance of Being Earnest is a lovely visit to an old friend. A must-see for anyone yet to be acquainted with this show, and an incarnation which remains a joy for those like me, who are familiar with every line.

Kimberley Shaw