The Importance of Being Earnest at The Guthrie Theater on 9/20/09

By: Janet Preus

John Skelley as Algernon Moncrieff and Nick Mennell as Jack Worthing in the Guthrie Theater production of Oscar Wilde’s THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST.  Photo by Michal Daniel.

The Guthrie Theater has opened a run of Oscar Wilde’s classic, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” directed by Artistic Director, Joe Dowling and presented on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Even those who have only a casual relationship with theater are likely to know the name of this play and recognize a famous quip or two credited to its pithy writer.

However, it is still the sort of play where you better know what you are doing because it’s not that easy to pull off for today’s audiences. There is the language. Believe it or not, Americans have a hard time understanding British accents, especially delivered without amplification in the classic Guthrie tradition. If that’s you, get seats near the stage. You don’t want to miss a word of it.

Dowling is truly in his element here. It’s an exquisite match of book knowledge and style, creativity and respect for the tradition of the piece. In fact, it’s such a tasty repast, it’s almost easier to talk about what it is not. It’s not gimmicky, pretentious, static or fussy. There was no attempt to ‘update’ it, thankfully, nor were we hit over the head with jokes that were already exquisitely set up for us by Wilde. It is a ‘talky’ play, but the banter clattered along interrupted only by beautifully timed pauses to point a joke or visual gag.

John Skelley as the charmingly worthless Algernon was genuinely appealing, and although at moments Nick Mennell as Jack Worthing seemed either a little uncomfortable in his skin, or hobbling on his timing, he made a nice counterpoint to Skelley’s breezy delivery.

Every once in awhile I don’t mind seeing an actor’s technique because I’m so engaged with the character. That’s how I felt about Linda Thorson’s portrayal of the stuffy and opportunistic Lady Bracknell. As good as the ensemble was, she deserves her own classification: virtually flawless. (By Act II, almost every line out of her mouth was punctuated by a single loud and percussive “ha!” from the gentleman seated two rows behind us.)

Heidi Armbruster fashioned a wonderfully and uniquely ditzy Gwendolen Fairfax from a part that, as scripted, could be downright obnoxious. Erin Krakow as Cecily contrasted nicely as the ingénue teetering between girlhood and adulthood, but I was distracted by her studied delivery of the dialect. Richard S. Iglewski as Rev. Chasuble and Suzanne Warmanen as Miss Prism provided the supporting comic love interest. Their onstage rapport was simply captivating.

Bright, sunny lighting washed the set’s clean, fresh colors – an unmistakable message that this was not to be taken seriously, after all. In the second act, giant flowers appeared, suspended from the heavens, every bit as overblown as the preposterous premise, and screamingly cheerful. Just slightly and appropriately over-the-top costumes perfectly matched each character’s own peculiarities, always accompanied by a small hand prop (walking stick, purse, diary) to set up a bit of business.

In the end, if you would like to see how this sort of theater is done, Dowling’s rendering is the one. I haven’t said this about a Guthrie production in a long time, but I’m saying it now. This is exactly right. And the jokes are as funny as they ever were.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” runs through November 8.

Location Info: The Guthrie Theater
Artist Info: Guthrie Theater

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