The Importance of Being Earnest
Perth Theatre
Do not be fooled by the Palm Court style pre-show music for Lu Kemp’s pared-down production of Oscar Wilde’s cut-glass classic. The sounds get a whole lot livelier by the end.
As indeed do the goings-on between Grant O’Rourke and Daniel Cahill’s confirmed bachelors Algernon and Jack – or is it? – and the objects of their affection, Gwendolen and Cecily, brought to posh-frocked life by Caroline Deyga and Amy Kennedy.
A whole lot of town and country planning goes into the dynamic duo’s respective attempts at wooing, as they attempt to lead double lives to get their way without being found out.
Cecily and Gwendolen, meanwhile, bat out their two-faced politesse through gritted teeth over afternoon tea.
They are not a patch, however, on Lady Bracknell, magnificently embodied here by Karen Dunbar as a fur coat and nae knickers upwardly mobile WAG, whose Kelvinside accent only slips enough to reveal her roots on her revelatory handbag line.
Artifice is everything in Wilde’s play, which Kemp and Co use as a serious virtue. As Jamie Vartan’s increasingly uncluttered set moves from Algie’s booze-lined pad to leafy English garden, the green screen at the back of the stage suggests anything and everything can be projected on to the ensuing shenanigans.
As all bar Dunbar double up as assorted servants and guardians without any attempt to disguise the quick changes afoot, it’s as if the two would-be couples were dress-rehearsing an elaborate game of let’s pretend.
If O’Rourke and Cahill embody the lackaday entitlement of bored toffs at play, their female counterparts form a similar double act of opposites, with Deyga and Kennedy’s Gwendolen and Cecily equally up for fun.
As Lady Bracknell, Dunbar is a picture of barely restrained joie de vivre. Judging by the show’s Crackerjack style finale, given half the chance, she would gladly let her hair down and go wild in town, country and anywhere else that might have her.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here