Exhibitionism

The Importance of Being Earnest

Running Time: 2 hrs., 20 min.

When Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest premiered at the end of the 19th century, the exquisitely dressed high-society audience in attendance probably had little idea that Wilde’s satire was directed at their very souls, and Wilde probably had no idea that he had penned a play that would remain popular even a century later — Austin has seen at least three productions over the last decade or so and probably more. Contributing to the play’s enduring popularity are Wilde’s story, which revolves around two high-society lads, Algernon and Jack, both of whom use one name in the city and another in the country so as to move easily — and with little excuse — between the two spheres; Wilde’s themes, which center on the fickleness of love and the fictions of everyday life; and the most witty, sophisticated, hilarious dialogue to be found in any play, anytime, anywhere. I love this play, and have difficulty believing that anyone else could not.

Oracle Theater Company makes its debut with a production of Earnest, and just as there is much to admire in Wilde’s play, there is much to admire in Oracle’s production, starting with the work of director/designer Russell L. Wiseman, whose use of the Dougherty Arts Center theatre is quite original: He stages the play in a modified theatre-in-the-round on the auditorium floor, with the majority of the audience on two sides. Two white arches tower above an angular grouping of black platforms, forming an enclosure under which the action is played out. For the first act (which takes place in the town, as two charming and strategically placed signboards inform us), Wiseman uses rich wooden furniture, two white settees, and an exquisite silver tea service to make a highly elegant impression. In the second act, when we move to the country, the settees become garden boxes filled with roses, and the sitting room becomes a gazebo filled with tasteful, white wrought-iron furniture. Wiseman costumes his actors in fashions worthy of the conspicuously wealthy, the men in linen evening wear and the women all lace and long skirts in gorgeous light pastels, with ribbons and flowers adorning their perfectly coiffed hair. Finally, Wiseman has chosen a dozen or so familiar classical pieces as incidental music. To direct a play is exceedingly difficult; to also design every aspect of it and do it so appropriately and well is nothing short of astonishing.

With so much to admire in Wiseman’s work, I was surprised by his apparent decision to treat the play as farce. Broad comic set-pieces abound (one character in particular seems to have dropped out of an irritating piece of sketch comedy) and always at the expense of Wilde’s witty, perceptive script. Further obscuring the story is Wiseman’s staging, a veritable morass of movement around and around and back and forth (and back and forth yet again for two solid hours). Add to this inconsistent and sometimes nonexistent English dialect work, and it’s often difficult to know where to look or what to listen to. But Marty Herzog as a sometimes manic and always devious Algernon, and Jan Phillips as the matron of all matrons, Lady Bracknell, manage to rise above the whirling fray, and some of the other actors do have their moments. As a first effort, it’s more than admirable. The opening night audience certainly seemed to enjoy themselves. You might as well.

This article appears in November 14 • 2003.