Irreverence reigns supreme in Riverwalk’s ‘Importance of Being Earnest’

Valentine’s Day 1895, St. James’s Theatre in London. The Marquess of Queensberry, a Scottish nobleman, paces outside the theater where Oscar Wilde is debuting his newest play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” waiting for his opportunity to shame the playwright as he takes his final bow.  In his arms, a bouquet of rotten vegetables.

For four years, Wilde, a married father of two, has been involved in a tempestuous affair with the Marquess’ son, Lord Alfred Douglas, who is 16 years Wilde’s junior. When the Marquess leaves an incriminating note for Wilde at a private club Wilde is a member of, the playwright decides to go on the offensive and sue him for libel. The lawsuit backfires, and by May 1895, Wilde is imprisoned for gross indecency and receives two years of hard labor. Sadly, homosexuality was a criminal offense in Britain until the late 1960s.

Fortunately, art doesn’t quite imitate life in Wilde’s always delightful “Importance of Being Earnest.” Says the rakish Algernon Moncrieff to his friend John “Jack” Worthing, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!” 

While the playwright promotes the cynical message that the monotony of married life is alleviated by being a “Bunburyist” — a person who uses a double life to evade unwanted social obligations and mundane societal conventions — the farcical comedy is what author W.H. Auden called “a pure verbal opera.” 

Riverwalk Theatre’s tidy, well-timed production has the essential elements to conventionally represent this time-honored classic. Talented, comedic cast? Check. Beautiful Victorian costumes? Check. Rotating sets that portray a stylish London flat, the garden of an English manor and the interior of said manor? Check. Comfortable furnishings? Check. Cucumber sandwiches? Check. Indeed, every witty line, comedic double take and lightning-speed roll of the sumptuous set has been carefully curated by director Bob Purosky.

In truth, my only criticism of this production involves the cucumber sandwiches. While I have always admired the talent and gloriously fiendish eyebrows of local actor Lewis Elson, whose portrayal of aristocratic dandy Moncrieff is comedically pleasure-seeking and irreverent, he was very difficult to hear in the first act. I almost groaned when he began stuffing cucumber sandwiches into his gob because I could barely catch the witticisms. Thankfully, this resolved itself by the second act.

Kameron Going, as the endearing yet culpable Worthington, uses his natural tenor voice to create a mock seriousness to his role. Gini Larson, as Lady Bracknell, deadpans every hilariously ridiculous social observation with authority, and I very much enjoyed Erin Hoffman’s physicality as Miss Prism. Unlike the usual matronly portrayal of this role, Hoffman’s Prism is befuddled yet hopeful.

Riverwalk always delivers a quality theater experience, and the exuberant and appealing “Earnest” is no exception.