By Dave
Link: https://www.thelbt.org/shows/the-importance-of-being-earnest-2
Available until: Tuesday 4th May. You’ll be sent a link on the day of your chosen performance and you have access for 48 hours.
Content warning: Contains some strong language. 14+
This isn’t the Oscar Wilde play. Let’s get that right of the way right now. It’s set in the modern world with vloggers and followers and cancel culture. It follows the main basic story of The Importance of Being Earnest and most of the characters correspond to an equivalent character in the original play but it’s not Oscar Wilde.
It’s a really interesting idea and it’s great how well the story has been adapted to the modern world. Everything that is used from the original story works. The play is funny. Some of the characters are really likeable and it has a lot to say about the world we live in now, both positive and negative.
The only issue is that Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is one of the best and funniest plays around – and clever and funny as this adaptation is, it’s not as good as the original. It’s great, as a fan of Oscar Wilde, to watch and see what they’ve done with the play and how well it updates to the present day. But I’m kind of seeing it more as a very successful experiment than a play.
Yasmeen Khan’s script doesn’t have the depth and wit of The Importance of Being Earnest, but it is clever and funny. She’s used a lot of the ideas and lines, translating them into 21st century English (Oscar Wilde’s quote about style and sincerity fits perfectly into the modern world). She has made some of the characters into British Asians, which doesn’t make any difference to most of the plot but it allows Ms Begum (the new Lady Bracknell) to be strict about who Gwendolen dates, as well as being a great opportunity for actors who might never have had the opportunity to be in the Oscar Wilde play (though I think it’s about time that changed).
Director Mina Anwar brings a lot of humour into the production. It’s quite slapstick and obvious at times but it’s still funny and the timing is always faultless (which actually isn’t something I’d say about every production of the Oscar Wilde play I’ve seen). There are some great reaction shots too, including some subtle ones which might be unnoticeable onstage but can be used cleverly in a close-up.
Mina also plays the very glamorous Ms Begum. Her acting is outstanding, she’s probably the funniest person in the play and she couldn’t have performed her lines any better but Ms Begum doesn’t inspire the same complete and utter terror as Lady Bracknell. But I see this as a valid decision from the writer taking an iconic character in a different direction rather than any inadequacy on Mina’s part – I’d love to see her as the real Lady Bracknell one day, if she ever looks old enough.
Gurjeet Singh is charming as Jamil/Ernest, far more clueless than the Oscar Wilde character but very likeable, relatable and great at comedy. Not ever influencer is an attention-seeking idiot. A lot of people think social media is something you have to do and to be fair to Jamil, he’s come up with something interesting, unique and not even all that mindless. Tom Dixon is a smooth, elegant Algy, probably the closest character to the original, though I’m not exactly sure he wants to marry Safina (Cecily). A few marriage activities maybe, but that’s probably her lot.
Their love interests, Gul and Safina are much closer in personality to each other than Gwendolen and Cecily. They’re shallow and obsessed with appearances but harmless and quite sweet at the same time. Nikki Patel is confident and flippant as Gul, who is actually less annoying than Gwendolen. Zoe Iqbal’s Safina isn’t so distinct a character as Cecily (I’m a bit disappointed that Cecily’s diary wasn’t replaced with Safina’s fanfiction about her and popular actor Algy) but she is very Generation Z and she might quite enjoy being dumped by Algy if it happens. Melanie Marshall is a very New Age Miss Prism, the only character other than Algy to keep their original name.
Other characters include Harriet Thorpe as Jamil’s insincerely affectionate agent, Eleri B. Jones as Nell (who is actually more like Cecily than Safina is) and Divina de Campo, who owns the screen as herself
The Importance of Being Earnest is a lot of fun
and surprisingly successful.
No comments:
Post a Comment