Fall play review

   On November 1st 2018, I watched the fall production at school in Black Box Theater called “the importance of being earnest” directed by Ms.Guarino. “The importance of being earnest” is originally written by Oscar Wilde; it talks about Jack, who is adopted when he was young, comes to the house of Algernon, who is his best friend. Jack tells Algernon that he wants to marry Algernon’s cousin Gwendolyn. When Algernon sees the names on Jack’s cigarette case, he is interested in who Earnest is and who Cecily is. Jack tells the truth to Algernon that he is actually not Earnest and the name is just a fictional name that he uses to get away with troubles and to marry Gwendolyn. Algernon calls this as ‘Bunburyist’ and he is interested in Cecily, who is obsessed with Earnest. Therefore, the drama begins. Both Jack and Algernon are pretending they are Earnest and both successfully proposed to Gwendolyn and Cecily. But then, soon Gwendolyn and Cecily find out the truth that both of them are Earnest and there is no such person. But they still decide to marry the two. When Gwendolyn’s mother Lady Bracknell comes in, she and Miss Prism tell the truth that Jack is actually the son of Lady Bracknell’s sister, which means Jack is Algernon’s older brother. Even more dramatic, Jack’s father’s name is Earnest! Throughout the play, there are multiple themes that are explored.  For example, the theme of love is fully explored, both the love between men and women, and love between family. The desperation of both Algernon and Jack to marry their loves shows how the whole storyline is based on their willingness of to do anything to be together with their lovers. The moment when Cecily and Gwendolyn compromise their lovers’ lie was also touching, since they, at first, said that they only like the name Earnest. The sense of happiness when Jack and Algernon realize that they are brothers also shows how the love between them is strong. At last, when Jack thought Mss Prism is his mother, he immediately comes hug her, this shows the happiness of meeting his mother. However, the most important theme would be morality. Both Jack and Algernon decide to use the name Earnest because it can be a way to win their loves, and also to get away from troubles, since they can blame everything they did on Earnest. But at the end of the story when Jack says “I understand to vital importance of being earnest”, he eventually realises that being earnest is the only way to get the true happiness. 

    The staging is very unique. It is separated into two parts where the left one is usually indoor and the right side is in the garden. Between the two stages there is a gap that can be used as the entrance for performers. I was very impressed by how fast the performers are able to change the props for the next scene during the black out, which takes a lot of effort to practice. The lighting is simple but optimum. There was no other color except white and yellow, which suits the atmosphere of the play, which is casual. Costumes, on the other hand, must be the part that performers and director spent a lot of time on. Characters with low status have simple costumes. For instance, Miss Prism and Dr.Chausble both wear simple, which help the audience to identity who are the main characters. One of the most effective one would be Linda, Lady Bracknell’s costume; the red color symbolises her high status combines with some gold jewelries. It was obvious that her status is higher than others and she is well-respected by everyone just by looking at her costume. It was also funny to see how Aaron (Algernon) dresses too much when he is meeting his love Cecily. The costume is very fancy, which suits Algernon’s funny personality. The props used throughout the play were also well-considered. There were a lot of food prepared, which made the performance more realistic. Also, each set prop was well designed that helped to set the tone well. Overall, this play was very thoughtful on the staging part. In my opinion, the most important character would be Jack, acted by Tasman. Unlike Algernon, he is more careful and polite. Because of him the whole drama began. It was obvious that the whole storyline surrounded him: uncle Earnest, the lost child, and eventually becoming the brother of Algernon. Also, he had lots of dialogue with, basically every character, which suggests how important he is. 


   If I choose one actor I liked the most, he would, no doubt, be Aaron. Throughout the performance, he becomes a completely different character for the normal life. On stage he is energetic, loud, and talkative, which I believe would be a tough breakthrough. He had great body language and facial expression to show his open characteristics and the comedy. Without his great performance, the aim of comedy would not be as good as it was. For example, when he knows that Jack is his brother, he jumped right into Jack and hugged him, the wide movement shows his happiness. Overall, it was such a successful performance, and I really enjoyed it because each character is different and special in their own way, also the stage design shows how much effort the people put in.

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