The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
By Oscar Wilde
Directed by Mark Routhier
Starring Trevor Starr. Patrick Sylvester and Amanda Tavarez
Theatre UCF, Orlando</strong> FL
Making money is one thing, but inheriting it can be worse: you have no pressure to do anything, so you often end up doing nothing. Algernon (Trevor Starr) spends his days eating cucumber sandwiches and avoiding his imperious Aunt Lady Bra knell (Belinda Boyd). Her mission in life is proper marriages among the young and wealthy. Algernon’s strongest defense lies with the fictitious Mr. Bunbury who is always on death’s door. Algernon’s best friend Jack (Alex Hehr) has a similar situation; he’s guardian to young Cecily (Victoria Gluchoski) and keeps her in an obscure country house. He keeps a fictitious brother Earnest with similar illness; Earnest lives in London giving him an excuse to escape to the city. Plots thicken, denouements condense out, and we end up with happy marriages and skewered societal norms.
What we are bereft of is laughs. The first act drifted by with a scattered giggle or two, but it was depressing watching gags troupe across stage with no recognition from the audience. Mr. Starr wears a paste on moustache and seems aimed at a Groucho Marx persona. Mr. Hehr is a solid actor as well, but he too lacks the sort of timing needed to make this show pop. That falls to Ms. Gluchoski; when Cecily appears in the second act it’s like a comic flower blooming. Now that the ice is broken the laughs flow. She even pries laughs out of the otherwise stiff Gwendolyn (Amanda Travers). The other active couple in this country setting is the excitable Miss Prism (Jasmine Mitchell) and the parish priest Rev. Chasuble (Mike Nilsson); they seem to have more authentic spark than anyone else on stage. Groucho isn’t the worst casting idea for this classic comedy, but timing is more important than facial hair if you’re going to make this classic reach the pinnacles I’ve seen it do elsewhere.
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