A Wilde time with ‘Earnest’

Tom Titus

Comedy comes in many varieties, from mannered verse to baggy pants

slapstick. But few playwrights today elicit laughter with wit or

irony of the style Oscar Wilde practiced over a century ago.

Wilde employed words the way D’Artagnan used his blade -- a cut

here, a slash there and ultimately a coup de grace to the heart,

drawing the appreciation of sophisticated playgoers in Victorian

England. This advanced degree of verbal swordsmanship is most evident

in Wilde’s final work, circa 1895, “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

Such a play requires the interpretative skills and scathing

delivery of a George Sanders dropping acidic comments in “All About

Eve,” and the Newport Theater Arts Center has quite a few of these on

display in its production of “Earnest.” Director Darlene Hunter

Chaffee has instilled her cast with a proper appreciation of Wilde’s

savage wit and the performers thrust and parry with gusto.

The play, for lack of a more accurate term, is a romantic comedy

intertwined with intellectual farce, centering on two men about town

who profess to carry the name “Earnest” since each of their lady

loves adores this moniker. When their paths cross on love’s

battlefield, each has -- as Desi Arnaz would put it many years later

-- a lot of “splainin” to do.

These young men occupy the lion’s share of the play, but an

actress who is present for only two scenes devours the stage. Teri

Ciranna embodies the authoritarian dowager Lady Bracknell with a

verbal vengeance; shaping and forming each lethal dollop of

declaration with superb pace and timing, and earning deserved

applause on her initial exit.

Jack Millis richly enacts the sophisticated playboy Algernon

Moncrieff with a keen sense of irony, refusing to take himself or

anyone else very seriously. He particularly delights in zapping his

friend John Worthing, imbued with the proper degree of contrasting

stiffness by Kevin Deegan, who hews to a more traditional line of

courtship, wooing Algernon’s comely ward.

The latter role is given a nicely applied touch of mild rebellion

by Dana Osterman -- who, in a creative bit of physical casting,

towers over her swain much as Millis gazes down on his newfound love,

Cecily. This latter role is taken by Brenda Kenworthy -- beautifully

defining what is, as written, little more than a decorative

character. When these ladies meet, the sparks that ultimately fly

between them are ignited a bit too gradually, and is one of the

play’s few weaknesses.

Cynthia Jacobs effectively interprets the prim and proper

governess to Cecily, Miss Prism, whose long-held secret provides a

comical denouement. Rowland Kerr gives her befuddled cleric friend,

Rev. Chausible, a likeable, avuncular attitude.

The play’s two servants are employed in several functions, not the

least of which is shifting the venue in the three-scene play via a

revolving stage. Eldon Callaway, who doubles as stage manager, and

Ayal Willner fill these roles quite nicely.

The three Victorian settings, handsomely designed by Eckmann Stage

& Technical and dressed sumptuously by Terri Miller Schmidt, reek

with period authenticity, as do the costumes created by Donna

Fritsche. “Earnest” is not an easy vehicle to mount on a stage as

small as Newport’s, but these backstage wizards ensure its smooth

enactment.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” may not seem all that important

to 21st century audiences, but the well-crafted Newport production

demonstrates how punch lines from the 19th still are capable of

packing an intellectual wallop.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Fridays.