PLAY REVIEW: Oscar Wilde adaptation lacks emotion

The truth is rarely pure and never simple, Oscar Wilde informs
us in “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Modern life
would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a
complete impossibility.

This is precisely the hook that director Peter Hall utilizes in
the Theatre Royal Bath’s production of “Earnest,”
which will run through March 5 at the Ahmanson Theatre.

Playwright Wilde reached the height of his success in the late
1800s with his society dramas. Above all, “Earnest”
stands out as the most successful and acclaimed of his works and
boasts a verbal repartee of unparalleled distinction.

Although “Earnest” is a mockery of the society that
so deceitfully embraced and rejected him, Wilde bases his
characters in truth and sincerity. It is this dichotomy that makes
his play so enduring. He rejects using sentimentality to mirror the
hypocritical presentation of “sentimentality” in
society’s manners. As a result, the viewer is adequately
confronted with a heightened image of the dual, insincere nature of
the society we inhabit. And by challenging hypocrisy with sincere
mockery, Wilde ensures the popularity of his plays and the
everlasting sting of his tone.

But to attain the spontaneity and effortlessness needed to
successfully portray this play is not an easy task. And in fact,
Hall’s “Earnest” relies far too heavily on
Wilde’s famous masterpiece of words to entertain the
audience.

The beauty and brilliance of Wilde’s “Earnest”
lies in its genuine basis in sincere human emotion and
understanding. The latent tragedy in Wilde’s piece dwells in
the emotional sincerity that stains the wordplay. Without this
inherent emotional sincerity, the play becomes a trite reproduction
of a verbal masterpiece, relying more on the reputation of the
playwright than the skill of its actors.

The familiarity of “Earnest’s” dialogue is
both a blessing and a curse. While the brilliant wordplay backs the
production and has established Wilde’s work as a classic, it
is essential that bold, new vivacity be central to its delivery. In
this aspect, Hall’s production does not succeed. The cast
falls short of such a display; the emotional reality never quite
shines through in the actors’ performances.

“It is exquisitely trivial, a delicate bubble of
fancy,” Wilde writes, “and it has its philosophy that
we should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all
the serious things of life with sincere and studied
triviality.” Wilde’s words directly address the play
that he considered to be his masterpiece. The extent of triviality
in “Earnest” lies in its trivial portrayal of serious
material. And, in turn, this triviality should be treated
seriously.

The intricate wordplay of “Earnest” is not actively
evaluated as a broadcast for social commentary; rather, it becomes
a broadcast of Wilde’s cleverness. The famous lines of the
play are presented to the audience with invigorating gusto; the
production becomes an entertaining recital of Wilde’s famous
and beloved witticisms. The actors deliver each infamous line with
calculated knowledge of its effect; it stands not as a battle of
wits and comedy of manners but a rolling recitation of brilliant
lines. The words do not reveal a human element of spontaneity.

Although Theatre Royal Bath overwhelmingly relies on
Wilde’s genius to carry the production, the great
playwright’s commentary remains strongly relevant. The satire
confronts issues and dramatics significant to today’s society
and, even with this version’s lack of reality, the
parody’s humor still abounds. Hall’s “The
Importance of Being Earnest” is delightfully hilarious and
entertaining, but, I dare say, ironically lacking in
earnestness.