By
John Jeffay
1 min read
Things are not as they seem. That is the whole point of The Importance of Being Earnest. And that is why it was no great surprise to discover the truth about the fearsome matriarch Lady Bracknell.
My daughter checked the programme, turned to me during the first interval, and said: "That woman's a man!"
As I say, things are not as they seem, or to borrow one of the play's many famous lines: "The truth is rarely pure and never simple". The world's a topsy-turvy place in this, Oscar Wilde's final and most enduring play. And with double identity as its central theme, it is only fitting that the most forceful character should turn out to be a pantomime dame.
Russell Dixon takes centre stage as a splendid Lady Bracknell in an extravagant confection of a costume. "We live in an age of surfaces," she observes as the tangle of deceptions, misunderstandings, flawed first impressions and double standards serves to confuse and entertain in equal measure.
Chris Honer's production is a marvellous, energetic and beautifully paced version of this classic farce. The play was very much of its time, exposing the fragile morality of frightfully proper Victorian society, with Wilde's own ability to shock bubbling just below the surface. But it is no less funny now than when it won rave reviews at is its 1895 premiere.
One of the biggest laughs from the Library Theatre's audience comes when the Jack Worthing character, seeking the hand of Lady Bracknell's daughter, is quizzed about his means, his prospects, and his politics. He is, he says, a Liberal Unionist. "They count as Tories," responds Lady Bracknell tellingly.
The utterly improbable plot of Earnest has too many twists and turns to fit readily into a nutshell. Jack Worthing is not who he seems - he was found abandoned in a handbag at London's Victoria station and in order to marry Cecily, he must discover his true identity.
To add to the confusion he has an alter ego, calling himself Ernest in town, and Jack in the country. As indeed, does his cousin Algernon, who also becomes Ernest to win the affections of the young and beautiful Gwendolen, adopted and jealously protected by Jack. Or should that be Ernest? Both Gwendolen and Cecily feel they can only love a man called Ernest – thus the play's title – and thereon lies their problem.
This and very much more is crammed into what will be the last show at the Library Theatre for a while, as it closes for major refurbishment and takes to the road. Fittingly, Earnest was the first play it staged at its opening 58 years ago. My guess is that it would impress audiences again if they revive it in 2068.
(Tel: 0161 236 7110)