Comedic, Witty & Earnest: Wilde’s ‘The Importance Of….’ At Gulfshore Playhouse

The Importance of Being Earnest at Gulfshore Playhouse’s Main Stage (Photos by Nick Adams

By Nancy Stetson

The Importance of Being Earnest playing at Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples through April 4 has the singular quality of being both sly and …well, earnest.

The two male leads, Algernon (James Evans) and Jack (Tony Carter, last seen in The Mousetrap at the Playhouse), joke and banter with each other, a battle of wits. Sure, they’re debonair and worldly, but the truth is, when they fall in love (Algernon with his friend’s ward, John with Algernon’s cousin), they fall hard.

The women, Gwendolen and Cecily, return their affection, but both proclaim that the man they marry will be named Earnest, because they love the name. And because the men are living double lives and have introduced themselves as such, both women believe they are in love with an Earnest.

This comedy of manners builds absurdity upon absurdity. Though it’s difficult to explain its convoluted plot, don’t worry; it’s easy to follow while it unfolds onstage. And this talented cast makes it so entertaining to watch.

Playwright Oscar Wilde called his work “A trivial comedy for serious people.” But don’t discount the importance of comedy, especially in these perilous times. It is a classic, and this cast does justice to it. Much of its humor comes from the creative tension of containing opposites: it’s sophisticated and silly, proper and naughty.

Wilde’s dialogue is rapid-fire banter, with classic lines such as: “The suspense is terrible …I hope it will last.”

The repartee is as sparkling as the chandelier that hangs in Algernon’s Art Nouveau drawing room. And Linda Buchanan’s sets are a delicious visual buffet. The walls are covered in pink and raspberry-patterned wallpaper, the colors repeated in a similar pattern on the white armchairs. Multiple paintings on the wall seem to reflect the characters’ qualities: a sly fox, mischievous monkeys, a preening peacock.

(Buchanan’s set for the second act is equally as impressive: a garden scene with four towering Cypress trees. And watch how cleverly the set is turned around for the third act, without the use of a turntable. Suddenly the inside is outside and visa versa. This is not unlike Wilde’s humor, which turns convention inside-out.)

Director Kristen Coury mines Wilde’s play for all the humor it contains: There are not just verbal quips but visual jokes and physical humor. The laughs are non-stop.

Though the role is sometimes given to a man, Kate Eastwood Norris is perfectly cast as Lady Bracknell (Algernon’s and Gwendolyn’s Aunt Augusta.) She can pin you to the wall with just a look and drolly drops bon mots as consistently as Hansel and Gretel dropped bread crumbs. Haughty and formidable, Norris received well-deserved exit applause on opening night. If you put her in a contest of withering one-liners with Maggie Smith’s dowager countess in “Downton Abbey,” it’s difficult to say who would win.

Costume designer Kirche Leigh Zeile assists with humor here, dressing Lady Bracknell in such oversized muttonchop sleeves they look like Popeye’s muscles after he’s inhaled a few cans of spinach. The sleeves, like an 1890s version of oversized shoulder pads in a 1980s power suit, are so large, Lady Bracknell must crab-walk sideways down a hall.

Kate Marilley (last seen as the lead in Gulfshore Playhouse’s Sweet Charity), is vibrant, flirty and lovable as Gwendolen. She and John moon over each other.

Marilley has an entertaining scene in Act II with Cecily (Ella Olesen), where they believe they’ve both fallen in love with the same man. Cecily is prone to pronouncements and pouting, and Olesen plays the teenage character with the right amount of naivete, innocence, and unearned self-confidence.

Two other characters are developing a budding romance as well: Cecily’s governess, Miss Prism (Karen Peakes) and the local parson, Rev. Chasuble (Richard Hollis). The two stumble and stammer through their interactions, as awkward as teenagers in love.

Michael Ehlers rounds out this cast, playing dual roles as Algernon’s butler in the city and Jack’s butler in the country. As the former, he is snooty, as the latter, he is bent over, overworked. Ehlers demonstrates the adage that there are no small roles, as he provides maximum humor with minimum stage time.

Gulfshore Playhouse presented a production of The Importance of Being Earnest back in 2013; this is the first time they’re reviving a play. You can see the appeal: Wilde’s absurd humor and illogical logic, the lush costumes, the quirky characters. And now, with the new theater, there is so much more space in which to play.

Though over 100 years old, The Importance of Being Earnest is no dusty classic.

Gulfshore Playhouse’s production is fresh and feisty, bringing it to life with such lovely bedlam.

The Importance of Being Earnest plays at Gulfshore Playhouse’s Moran Mainstage (100 Goodlette-Frank Road South, Naples) through April 4. Shows 2 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, T7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Running time is 2 hours and 30 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission. Tickets are $129, $89, $59 and $39. For more information, go to www.gulfshoreplayhouse.org or call (239) 261-7529.