Marin Shakespeare Goes Wilde

Prolific Irish writer Oscar Wilde was really out there and didn’t care who knew it. In late Victorian England, he cultivated a languid, long-haired flamboyance that was recognized and criticized as effeminate. And in spite of being married, he also pursued male romances, one of which got him imprisoned for two years.

Wilde’s last and most successful play, The Importance of Being Earnest, premiered in London on Valentine’s Day, 1895, but it only ran for eighty-three performances. By then, Wilde’s notoriety about his love affair with the Marquess of Queensberry’s son shut it down.

Earnest’s fast-paced satire about British society and its manners is now making a stylish return engagement at the Forest Meadows Amphitheatre at Dominican University in San Rafael. Marin Shakespeare Company’s all-star production offers a witty and gleeful visit to Oscar Wilde’s imagination.

Its story concerns two young bachelors, Algernon and Jack, who find themselves pursuing two young ladies, each of whom desires to marry a man named Earnest. To bring about the comedy’s necessary happy ending, its plot employs a London residence and a country home, an ironclad dowager, an attractive female ward, questionable ancestry, deceit, a misplaced manuscript and a possible re-baptism. The whole thing crackles with Wildean one-liners: Aunt Augusta says her widowed friend’s hair “has turned quite gold from grief.” The governess, Miss Prism, hearing that Jack’s wicked brother is dead, comments, “What a lesson for him! I hope that he will profit from it.” Algy defends his own costume with, “If I’m occasionally overdressed, I make up for it by being overeducated.”

Algernon, the first Earnest in this production, is played by Marin Shakespeares’ perennial bad boy, Darren Bridgett. (Bridgett always obliges fans in the amphitheatre by venturing into the audience and filching their snacks.) William Elsman, recently Don Quixote in the Mountain Play, is the second Earnest, and a good counterpoint to Bridgett.

George Maguire is cleverly cast as the formidable Aunt Augusta, Lady Bracknell. However, when Aunt Augusta first appears onstage, having rung the doorbell “in a Wagnerian manner,” Maguire gestures with gloved hands, smooths his skirts neatly, but delivers her lines in his own voice, not falsetto. It’s disappointing.

The young ladies, Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew, are played by Cat Thompson and Alexandra Matthew. These two at first perceive themselves as rivals. Watch for a lovely tea-fight.

Joan Mankin is the novelist/governess, Miss Prism, and also the affectionate object of the Reverend Dr. Chasuble, played with patient dignity by Jack Powell. Lane and Merriman, city and country house servants, are portrayed with two different accents by Lucas McClure.

Director Robert Currier has added some fine directorial touches to the script. Listen for the young ladies’ pronunciation of the men’s real names and for Aunt Augusta’s enunciation of the loaded word “handbag.” Enjoy the choreography of the “housemaids” rearranging Mark Robinson’s revolving set.

Patricia Polen’s costumes are lushly Victorian and topped with lavish wigs. The Importance of Being Earnest is a full, flamboyant, outdoor presentation of a Victorian play. Wilde would have loved it.

The Importance of Being Earnest will be at the Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, 1475 Grand Avenue in San Rafael, through August 20. Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays. Ticket prices run from $15 to $30.

Seating is on benches outdoors, but cushions may be rented. Picnics are welcome.
The weather cools rapidly after the sun goes down, so lap robes and jackets are recommended. For additional information, see www.marinshakespeare.org or call the box office, 499-4488.