Theater Review: Good Company Players’ “Earnest” minds its manners.
By Heather Parish
Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” is a champagne cocktail of a play—effervescent, delightfully intoxicating, and laced with enough bite to leave an impression. As a master of the comedy of manners, Wilde spins a world where deception is an art form and the most serious matters in life are treated with gleeful frivolity. “Earnest,” in particular, crackles with wit, exposing the absurdities of Victorian society while making audiences laugh at the very rules they live by.
Good Company Players’ most recent iteration of “Earnest” captured much of the play’s conventions, with able performances and design. Yet, for all its refinement, the production lacks a vital spark. The humor landed, but it never quite soared, as if the actors were savoring each line a touch too carefully rather than letting the dialogue dance. Without that essential liveliness, the play’s delicious satire felt more like a well-mannered conversation than a riotous social send-up.
True rudeness requires excellent manners.
I attended a Sunday matinee performance that, while nicely done, was not particularly boisterous at any point. Aside from some line wobbles here and there (Wilde can be tough to deliver perfectly every time), the language use was clear, and the entire ensemble is well cast. Ross Bookout (Worthing) and Alex Vaux (Algernon) are both plausible flâneurs. Vaux can pull off rakishness with aplomb, and Bookout made Worthing’s supercilious seriousness almost reasonable.
Erin Brown (Gwendolyn) and Jessica Martin (Cecily) have good chemistry, shifting their relationship from rivalry to sisterhood with alacrity. Martin, in particular, is a sparkly standout, giving Cecily a unique characterization using her quirky vocal traits and expressive face to advantage. She’s equal parts Madeline Kahn and Disney princess.
Gordon Moore (Rev. Chausuble) and Valerie Munoz (Miss Prism) lean into their experience to pepper the scene with a few moments of broader camp. Henry Montelongo is a scene stealer as butler Lane, delivering quips to his employer with the underlying hostility of a man about to unionize.
In the role of Lady Bracknell, Mary Piona has the greatest challenge: to play the grand dame with an imperious bent, an insulting manner, and an improbable list of requirements for acceptable society. Piona’s slight stature belies her big voice, an interesting contrast for the character. While she delivers Bracknell’s most quotable lines to good effect, the overall performance lacks the energy and urgency needed to fuel Bracknell’s unyielding snobbery.
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Mild manners are à la mode.
Denise Graziani’s direction is clean, if mechanical. None of the movement seemed out of place, but neither did it fit the characters’ language or motivations. It felt like a game of checkers when it should feel more like a game of chess. There are moments when, working in pairs, the actors start to perk up with the insults and the pointed comments, and their movement starts to match the buoyancy of the language. But then—poof—it’s gone, and the characters are again frozen in place or robotically moving to the next square.
The production design is everything one expects of a comedy of manners. The set by David Pierce is a redressed version of 2013’s GCP production of “Earnest,” as are many of Ginger Kay Lewis-Reed’s costumes. They are all still lovely.
I’ve got my mind on my manners and my manners on my mind.
Drawing room comedies have a reputation for being fussy and staid, which is ironic since most of them—particularly Wilde’s—are all about bursting society’s pretense. Wilde creates frothy scenes with the language, but that is a thin, lacy veil over the bloody muscle and bone of humanity. There’s always danger, high stakes, and even viciousness under the surface that gives them their texture and interest. It does them a disservice to be excessively polite.
This production, indeed, minds its manners excessively. While the delivery of Wilde’s most sparkling wit is done with absolute clarity, there is little of Wilde’s underlying venom. Wilde is openly exposing the hypocrisy of a shallow, morally hollow society that, nevertheless, preaches the value of being “earnest” (thus the title, hence the name). Voices delivering lines such as “The truth is rarely pure and never simple” should zing and sting more than just sing. And right now, the ensemble members are lovely singers, but they lack a little danger under the surface.
As a result, this is a nicely presented production that, all the same, landed like an audiobook I needed to run on 2x speed. But I still recommend it for audiences who love to listen to Wilde’s pristine sentences.
“The Importance of Being Earnest” continues at the 2nd Space Theatre through April 19, 2025.
