The Importance of Being Earnest was bright, flamboyant, colorful, and most of all very funny.
The play opened to a nearly sold-out crowd at the Avon Theatre Thursday night.
One of the most striking aspects of the show is the set and costumes, all filled with a variety of gorgeous colors that give Oscar Wilde’s story a bright and poppy look to it, making it a visual feast for the audience.
Each actor, in both main and supporting roles, looked distinct from one other through their colorful suits and dresses.
Flowers are placed at the edge of the stage, allowing for character introduction and scene transition for standout performances from Cecily Cardew, played by Marissa Orjalo, and Algernon Moncrieff, performed by Carter Gulseth.
From start to finish, the fast-paced Krista Jackson-directed comedy was filled with many punchlines, in delivery and via physicality of the performers, drawing laughter on many occasions.
Even the set changes contain memorable bits, with one in particular showing two butlers making out behind the flower-filled see-through wall before carrying on like nothing happened.
The entire cast does a phenomenal job in their performances including Gulseth, Orjalo, Joe Perry as John Worthing, Allison Lynch as Gwendolen Fairfax, Lucy Peacock as Miss Prism, and Fiona Reid as Lady Bracknell.
Another strength to the show is set-ups and pay-offs.
In Act One, we see our two male leads, Algernon and John, reveal to one other they go by different alter egos to escape the rigidness of Victorian society. John pretends to be his younger brother Ernest in London while Algernon goes by the name of Bunbury in the countryside.
This set-up ultimately leads to a hilarious end to the act.
After John tells Prism and Rev. Canon Chasbule, played wonderfully by Ben Carlson, that Ernest had died, his ward Cecily reveals that Ernest is actually home as Algernon walks to the stage, pretending to be John’s brother.
Even a line about how Ernest was found in a bag as a baby sets up a plot twist that gets revealed to the characters in the show’s second act.
“I’ve seen many renditions of this story before, this is probably the best one I’ve seen,” a theatre-goer told MyStratfordNow.
The Importance of Being Earnest runs until Oct. 23.
Reporter Hussam Elghussein is sharing observations on opening week performances at the Stratford Festival.
