A Trivial Comedy for Serious People

The Importance of Being Earnest

I normally start a review with a brief, spoiler-free synopsis, but I don’t think I can do that this time. If you aren’t already familiar with Oscar Wilde’s classic farce, I think the fun will be in letting it unfold in front of you with no help from me. And whether you are familiar with the show or now, Theatre Above the Law’s new production, directed by TATL Aristic Director Tony Lawry, will be delightful way to spend an evening.

The decision to trim to the show to a ninety minute one-act is ultimately a smart one. Without getting into the tedious debate about screens and attention spans, the fact remains that 2.5+ hours of show is something modern audiences only really accept from a Broadway musical. Keeping the most famous lines and dropping an intermission lets the cast keep the energy up the whole show without having to reestablish it after everyone goes and gets a cucumber sandwich during the interval. The show also casts actors outside traditional limitations for the parts, both in terms of race and gender, to the show’s benefit. The entire cast is clearly having a ball playing with Wilde’s words, and so will the audience.

Supplementing the main cast are an ensemble variously filling in for servants and other smaller characters. They carry out their duties with no small degree of clowning in the wings. While it works to underscore the farce, I will say I think the sight lines got a little lost in TATL’s small space. The set design by Stina Taylor, using a gazebo to stand in for the play’s locations, works quite nicely for the main story, but leaves the ensemble a little cramped in the wings. That critique aside, TATL, as always, makes the most of its Jarvis Square Theatre.

There’s an old Mark Twain quote about a ‘classic’ being something everyone wants to have read, but no one wants to read. The idea behind this production is an antidote to letting classics gather dust on the shelves. Judicious edits and more open casting let a new group of actors and audiences bounce around Wilde’s wordplay to everyone’s benefit.

Recommended

Reviewed by Kevin Curran

Presented April 21 – May 21 by Theatre Above the Law at 1439 W. Jarvis, Chicago.

Tickets are available by going to www.theatreatl.org.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.