“To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded
as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”
The
Importance Of Being Earnest,
Newcastle
People’s Theatre
Tuesday 2nd
– Saturday 6th April 2019
The
People’s Theatre’s next show is The Importance Of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde’s
much loved ‘trivial comedy for serious people’.
Algernon (Richard Jack) & Cecily (Kitty Parkin) |
If
you’ve ever wondered where the producers of Made
In Chelsea, Love Island and even Who Do You Think You Are? got their
inspiration from, then Wilde’s comedy of manners could unconsciously be a point
of reference. Bromance, frenemies, unrequited love, murky pasts, double lives
and social posturing amongst deliciously superficial people – it’s all here!
Chasuble (Jack Thompson) and Miss Prism (Alison Carr) |
The production moves the action to the 1920s where social anarchy seethes beneath
each polished witticism and sparkling one-liner!
Wilde
is endlessly quotable, with so many of his lines engrained in popular culture,
but perhaps none more so than two little words … “a handbag?”.
Gwendolen (Rachel Scott) and John Worthing (Colin Jeffrey) |
Long-time
People’s member Karen Elliott takes on the role of the no-nonsense Lady
Bracknell, a part played infamously by Edith Evans onstage and in the subsequent 1952
film. With the best cutting quips and withering remarks, Lady Bracknell casts a
formidable shadow over proceedings and has been played by the likes of Judi
Dench, Maggie Smith and, in 2015, David Suchet.
The
Importance Of Being Earnest is a fast-paced, sardonic masterpiece that ripples
to us across the ages in an endlessly funny exploration of manners, morals and
marriage.
Photos: Paula Smart
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