A handbag?? Fresh Earnest revival packs a punch with a wildly successful take on this illustrious comedy.
Playing at The Rose Theatre in Kingston until 12th November, don’t miss this deliciously witty, fast-paced new production of Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, which takes on a sizzling modern feel in the hands of director Denzel Westley-Sanderson. The actors are a joy to watch, working playfully with Lily Arnold’s set, Beth Duke’s sound design, and Tinovimbanashe Sibanda’s choreography to bring the script wholly to life in a series of fiercely fun twists.
This majestic interpretation challenges a particularly dangerous historical amnesia pertaining to the history of Black people in England. Algernon (Abiola Owokoniran)’s stylish townhouse is bedecked with contemporary African art reminiscent of Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassouba’s work, in which he dabbles himself, undermining common perceptions of the Western artistic canon and positioning Black art at the height of fashion and good taste in Victorian Britain. In Jack (Justice Ritchie)’s country retreat, the walls are testament to a long and proud ancestral history, the de rigueur, imposing portraits of prominent familial or societal figures typical of a period manor house in this case paying homage to a forgotten generation. Westley-Sanderson’s vision for the play involved bringing to centre stage the often overlooked Black Victorians who were an integral part of nineteenth century English society. In conversation with Arnold’s set design, Costume Supervisor Sarah Holland and Costume Maker Elspeth Threadgold play a substantial role in realising this vision, with sumptuous outfits tailored thoughtfully to each character working to quash the myth of there being no Black Victorians, indeed no Black people in the country prior to the arrival of the Windrush generation from the 1950s onwards. Westley-Sanderson states that ‘if seeing Black people who look stunning in Victorian dress, who were rich, who weren’t just on the plantation, prompts some curiosity about Black Victorians, I’ll be very happy.’
Westley-Sanderson employs some effective exploration of gender fluidity amongst the characters, with Lady Blacknell played by Daniel Jacob, AKA Vinegar Strokes of RuPaul’s Drag Race fame. Miss Strokes brings all the pomp and vigour of drag performance to the nineteenth century text, commanding our attention entirely whilst on stage, and exiting her scenes umbrella-first in traditional queen style. Valentine Hanson doesn’t miss a chance to inject some delightfully camp comic timing into even Merriman, Algernon’s Butler (with the playtext’s original cucumber sandwiches switched to cucumber martinis, which feel more fitting for this production). Miss Prism (Joanne Henry) catches the eye of Dr. Chasuble, here played by a fantastic Anita Reynolds in a compelling subversion of Victorian gender roles. It was not lost on Westley-Sanderson that Wilde was imprisoned for homosexuality, and this interpretation of one of his most famous works celebrates the progress made in the interim: while not nearly far enough, seeing the play’s erotic possibilities manifested in this manner are only further steps in the right direction.
Phoebe Campbell (Cecily) and Adele James (Gwendolyn) masterfully bring out the vivacious, multi-faceted potential of Wilde’s female characters, managing to override the casual misogyny in the original text by means of tone and facial expressions. Their voices drip with exuberant, humorous irony as they laud the bravery of their romantic conquests, while said conquests cower submissively at their feet, and the women’s observations of the relative cowardice of the sexes ring true, though likely received with the opposite meaning by this contemporary audience in particular. It was a true pleasure to watch this production’s maximisation of the personality and agency of Earnest’s female characters.
The general feeling of the play is a glorious sense of fun, style and farce, the quick-smart shade-throwing of nineteenth century, not-so-polite society brought up to date in a ravishing satire for our times.