Laughing in earnest as actors prepare to take on Wilde classic
The cast of The Importance of Being Earnest, soon to open at Perth Theatre, have been watching current TV shows like ‘Succession’ and ‘Made in Chelsea’ to get a feeling for what it is to be super rich.
The Oscar Wilde play is set in Victorian times, but director Lu Kemp wanted to educate her actors about the bubble of wealth the characters they were playing took for granted.
She said: “We were gripped by Jesse Armstrong’s TV drama, Succession. He’s written great shows like ‘The Thick of It’ and ‘Peep Show’.
“For The Importance of Being Earnest (TIOBE) I wanted it to look period but feel as contemporary and immediate as possible.
“All the main characters are part of society’s elite, they are a group of very wealthy people. We needed to get inside that world, as it is today.”
Lu Kemp also picked out another tie in with Oscar Wilde’s time and ours - the seeming acceptability of lying: “Whether you observe a Boris Johnston U-turn or a Trump tweet, lies are all over the place, in plain sight,” she explained.
“In The Importance of Being Earnest, Jack and Algernon are lying all the time, constructing these fanciful realities and they seem to find it second nature, a necessity. It makes the audience consider what it is to lie.”
Lu Kemp explained that it was a fastpaced, witty piece of theatre. “On its opening night, Wilde said it ‘should go like a bullet shot’.
“It is a social comedy. It’s very funny and very intelligent in the way it pokes fun at society’s unnatural demands on people.
“We want this production to have that fun spirit, it must feel like a good night out.”
When the PA went to see rehearsals earlier this week, there was lots of laughter. Lead actors Daniel Cahill and Grant O’Rourke were joking around and it was hard to tell what was them enjoying the job and what was humour required by their roles.
“Jack has a double life, he’s Jack in the country and Ernest when he’s in town,” said Daniel Cahill. “You can see his high moral behaviour when he’s at home in the country is totally jettisoned when he goes to town.
“His high mindedness and etiquette are superficial social attachments he’s been forced to adhere to. Given the change of scene he’s up to all kinds of raunchy bad behaviour.
“Jack disengages wildly from the proper conduct his upbringing has forced on him.
“Oscar Wilde called this a ‘trivial play for serious people.’ Well, there’s a lot to be learned from Jack’s journey!”
Grant O’Rouke, who plays Algernon ,spoke about his character: “Algernon is an older bachelor in this production than the original play sets out.
“He’s reckless and even less serious about life than his pal Jack.
“We see today how people can fall over themselves to prove how woke they are. In Victorian culture, something similar was happening and Wilde is having fun puncturing the myth of his society’s superior morals.”
The Importance of Being Earnest is at Perth Theatre from Thursday, March 5 to Saturday, March 21. Tickets from www. horsecross.co.uk or 01738 621031.