Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

A different kind of comedy
Mistaken iden-tity, two love interests and an appalling mother-in-law. Now that makes for great comedy. Many, if not all of us, can identify with at least one of those themes. The Importance of Being Earnest is more than a social critique. It’s more than a period comedy. After watching it I’m still unable to place it in a suitable category. Would I want to watch it again? Why, of course.

The four main actors bonded well on stage. The two Earnests, John (Nigel Balakrishnan) and Algernon (Joachim Johanssen) had an excellent, if at times monotonous rapport. Their love-hate relationship was always clearly and obviously brought out. The two women, Cecily (Nelum Goonetilleke) and Gwendolyn (Jinashri Samarakoon), played their parts to perfection, and brought out brilliantly what Wilde was trying to expose – the hypocrisy of high society at the time.

Neluka Silva played Lady Bracknell with gusto, and it must be said that she very nearly had it all under control. At times however, the good Lady tended to be tedious, slowing down the pace and giving the attention of the audience space to wander.

The minor characters as a whole were satisfactory, with entrances and exits being very close to perfect. The two butlers Lane (Lasantha Rodrigo) and Merriman (Arun Perera) along with Miss. Prism (Tania Samarasinghe) and Dr. Chasuble (Namel Weeramuni) kept the play together with neat, precise, filler dialogue. As a drawback, it must be said that at times speech was unclear, and this is unforgivable – given the excellent acoustics of the Punchi Theatre.

Where the actors excelled however, the production team or ‘crew’ failed. The blackouts, or inter-scene changes were far too long, and the writer even recalls the lights coming on during one of them. The cast had obviously put their heart and soul into the production and it was sad that their efforts should be marred by such technical occurrences.

Apart from these minor drawbacks however the play proceeded without glitch. The pace dropped at a few points, but was always promptly picked up again. The actors brought out the subtlety of Wilde’s cynicism beautifully and each line was delivered to perfection.

The stage was used well, with lots of important scenes being acted out on the apron, just inches from the first row. They successfully drew the audience in, binding the attention around the front of the stage for the key scenes, and then shifting it back to middle centre for the lighter, ‘breather’ scenes. The climax however, it must be said, could have been a bit more intense, with more thought being made to character placement.

The play had elements of social criticism and moments of fine political analysis. There were bits of parody, and long snippets of intense sarcasm. Between the “Bunburying” and “metaphysical speculation” there were moments of such intense merriment that the writer couldn’t help but emit loud snorts.

We laughed at the wit of Algernon, at the pompousness of Lady Bracknell, at the hypocrisy of Gwendolyn and at the intense agitation of Jack. We laughed at nearly everything. Wilde’s wit and wordplay shone through to create a rich tapestry of pun and paradox that left us in gales of pure, unchecked laughter. For a little over two hours, we all lost ourselves in a wonderful parody of nineteenth century England.

Most of all however, the play heralded a brave shift away from the Aristophanic comedy that Sri Lankan audiences have grown so partial to. Without realising it, the actors had conned us in to laughing at wit of dialogue, and not at slapstick. They had embraced comedy as a form of serious expression. It was comedy that makes you think. Comedy that grows on you. Comedy that is a lot more than just hollow laughter.

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