Jun 6, 2008

'Earnest' goes to Bus Barn

By John Angell Grant / Theater Reviewer

Cucumber sandwiches and the complex art of making love. These are linchpins of Oscar Wilde's wonderful comedy "The Importance of Being Earnest," receiving an entertaining production run at Bus Barn Stage Company in Los Altos.

This witty play about social paradox reminds us that in the world of human vanity, romance taking place in a metaphysical world is much more interesting than romance taking place in reality.

In "The Importance of Being Earnest" two idle, young gadabout Victorian gentlemen find that it's necessary to tell big lies in order to live happily. The women they pursue, in fact, insist on it, and love the men most for the things that aren't true about them. For the Victorian upper classes this is all so delicious.

In "The Importance of Being Earnest" one gentleman concocts a story about a fictional troublemaking brother named Ernest, as an excuse to leave responsibilities at his country estate and go to London to live improperly. His ward, however, falls in love with that imaginary Ernest and creates an elaborate fantasy romance in her diary.

When the gentleman's buddy shows up to pretend he's Ernest, in order to seduce the young woman, things get way more complicated. As you might expect in a play like this, the plot turns on a mysterious baby found in a handbag in a railway station.

"The Importance of Being Earnest" is filled with Wilde's jaded observations about life, designed to annoy London's Victorian population, such as, "Divorces are made in heaven," or "It's important to miss business engagements in order to retain the beauty of life." Wilde's is a world of idle gentlemen, in which smoking is considered an occupation.
Barbara Cannon's Los Altos production is generally well directed. Only at a couple of moments do over-the-top slapstick (the air kisses, and some extreme mugging) undercut the story's Victorian propriety, and cost the staging some of its tension.

There is considerable good acting in this production. Wendy Howard-Benham steals her scenes as shrill and stuffed-shirt Lady Bracknell, a pushy old bat of an aristocrat who provides much humor, grilling people on their family pedigrees.

John Romano is very funny as moon-faced Jack Worthing, trying to pass himself off as Ernest in order to impress the ladies. Jeff Clarke is his wound-too-tight pal Algernon, also trying to pass himself off as Ernest in order to impress the ladies.

In this world, it seems, women get turned on only when men are named Ernest. While this sounds silly, Wilde effectively sells the story device as a symbol of the charming vanity of human existence.

As rival gal pals Gwendolyn and Cecily, Shannon Stowe and Sarah Cook participate in a battle of insults that they won't let interfere with their ability to have a proper garden tea together.

In one wonderful instance, Algernon and Cecily journey through the throes of romantic ecstasy together as they relive the imaginary romance between the two written in Cecily's diary long before they ever met.

It's part of Wilde's power as a writer that the romances of this play can be reduced to such trivializations. Wilde himself would likely say he was elevating the romances.

It's all summed up in the play's overarching message, which reminds us that women will fall in love only with men who are Ernest.

Rating: Three stars

E-mail John Angell Grant at jagplays@yahoo.com.