Say It Again, Sorry: The Importance of Being … Earnest?, Lichfield Garrick Theatre Review
Written by Charis for Theatre and Tonic.
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review.
Say It Again, Sorry’s take on The Importance of being Earnest is unlike anything that audiences will have watched before. The piece is a new interactive production inspired by Oscar Wilde’s play. Within a Q&A session after the performance, the cast stated that they choose Oscar Wilde and The Importance of being Earnest as “everyone has heard of aspects of it”. The piece itself is created around mistaken identity and they felt that this would provide an interesting base for their ideas, stating that the piece is “a trivial comedy for serious people” . They have had people offended that they have messed with the piece and you could suggest that those people have missed the point entirely. Wilde created the piece originally to poke fun at traditional theatre and as a result would find this interpretation humorous. The Importance of Being … Earnest? has been five years in the making for the cast.
The piece is absolutely hilarious and is certainly helped by the fact that no two performances can ever be the same. Earnest, the main role, is chosen from the crowd and later on virtually every role is held by a crowd member. Choosing the right audience member for the role is incredibly important as it needs to be someone who does not know the play too well and is willing to participate in anything that unravels. The cast suggests that ‘we only want people who want to do it’ and this is certainly a good sentiment to have. The right Earnest in the form of James was certainly chosen at the Lichfield Garrick on 27th June. The right Lady Bracknell replacement was also chosen later on in the piece in the form of Steve, who added in the unique and comedic comment “I have bad knees”!
It was comedic to watch Guido Garcia Lueches as Alegernon interacting with the audience cast members. You could see the cast members altering slightly to accommodate for the specific audience members they had that night. As Lueches stated in the Q&A, ‘’you do not want anything too good because its all about going off the rails. The fun is trying to get it back on”. It is similarly funny to watch Judith Amsenga as Lady Bracknell and Trynity Silk as Gwendolen.
It was stated that ‘the play has to go right’. This sentiment is apparent in the piece when the audience cast member says the wrong answer from two, is not standing in the right place or is given an “impossible” task. The play always continues on, even when stuck in a rather comedic Groundhog Day.
The play within a play aspect is pure comedy. Josh Haberfield as Simon Slough and Ben Mann as Josh perfected this aspect superbly. Haberfield is the perfect character to portray the erratic stage manager and is superbly charismatic which helps in encouraging audience members to participate. Mann really makes you feel empathy for the pushed around stage manager.
The piece is perfectly classic English comedy. I cannot put it any better than the cast did themselves by summing the piece up in their words, “Oh Lord, what happens now?”
The Importance of Being … Earnest? is currently on tour and will be at the Edinburgh Fringe in August. Find out more here.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★