HCT Rings In 25th Season
HALE CENTRE THEATRE: A FUNNY, HONEST 'EARNEST'
In all the story's absurdity, the success of Hale Centre Theatre's production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" is in its quick pacing and smart character development. Under the hand of director Tamara Adams, the cast is up to the challenge of delivering Oscar Wilde's delightfully funny epigrams.
Paul Cartwright, as Algernon Moncrieff (in the Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday cast), is a perfect example. Cartwright's timing and mannerisms effectively embody a confident, happy-go-lucky bachelor who lives for pleasure. He draws laughs with ease, as he offers the playful Algernon's commentary on just about everything in this comedy about two men who have created fictional siblings for themselves, both with the name of Earnest.
Algernon becomes Ernest Worthing in the country, while his best friend, Jack, (Josh Richardson), uses the name while in London. It's not until both of them fall in love that they come face to face with the importance of being honest.
The character of Algernon, of course, has most of the play's best lines. "My dear fellow, all women become like their mothers, that's their tragedy. No man does, and that's his," Algernon tells Jack.
Or this: "Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die."
Cartwright and Richardson, as an aristocratic man who is vulnerable in love, offer good presence and stage chemistry, delightfully playing off each other.
Among the female cast, Linda Jean Stephenson is a standout as Lady Bracknell, Algernon's aunt. The actor's poise, plus her high-pitched voice, smartly portray the utterly irritating and arrogant matriarch.
Overall, the director does Wilde right by paying attention to the actors' mannerisms and gestures, which serve the farce in this classic interpretation of London high society.
That's complimented by Kacey Udy's set and Jolene Ashcraft's costumes, which are ornate and opulent in just the right measure, depicting the stuffiness of the Victorian era while also playfully commenting on modern hypocrisy.
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