by Emily Lazell-Taylor

‘Oh, pleasure, pleasure! What else 
should bring one anywhere?’

The annual Oriel College Summer 
Garden Play this year was the performance of one of Oscar Wilde’s greatest works – The Importance of Being Earnest. Having studied the play for my English Literature A-Level course and been captivated by Wilde’s genius ever since, I was very eager to get a ticket. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. This farcical comedy follows the story of two bachelors Jack Worthing (played by Grace Romans) and Algernon Moncrieff (played by Freddie Houlahan) who create alter egos called Ernest to escape their social obligations and instead pursue a life of pleasure. Freddie brilliantly encapsulates Algernon’s playful, frivolous and hedonistic nature and does this particularly well in Act I where he devours all of the cucumber sandwiches meant for Lady Bracknell. Algernon’s gluttony represents the lust, physical pleasures and self-absorption denied by high society. Algernon is given witty quips and epigrams to demonstrate the disrespect which he holds toward polite society. As for Jack, Grace does a phenomenal job in depicting his initial apparent seriousness. Unlike Algernon, Jack does not take part in jokes and is far more proper; representing the morals of Victorian society. However, as the play progresses, we see that Jack falls into hypocrisy – he invents a fictitious brother to make himself look generous. We find that hypocrisy is a significant theme in the play and all of the actors do an exceptional job in depicting the hypocrisy of their characters. For instance, Gwendolen (played by Nidhi Madhani) swaps ‘style’ and ‘sincerity’ when she says, ‘In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.’ Of course, one would expect that ‘sincerity’ supersedes ‘style’ ‘in matters of grave importance’ and so the audience finds humour in the unexpected.

The acting was not the only thing that impressed me – the costumes perfectly represented the high-society fashion of the Victorian era. Algernon and Jack both wear sophisticated suits; although we see right from the beginning of the play that Algernon’s clothes are much more rugged, this is done to fit Ernest’s personality. Lady Bracknell (played by Peregrine Neger) wears a high collared dress which is tight fitted (resembling the style of a tight bodice) which would have been the high-end style of the day. Cecily Cardew (played by Judy Durkin) is a young girl who has not yet fully been introduced to society and so her costume is a dress with bright colours and patterns. Miss Prism (played by Phoebe Winter) is setting an example for Cecily and so wears a reserved version of the fashion trends of the time – she wears a hat and a collared dress. The Reverend Chasuble (played by Marcus O’Connor) wears the same attire that reverends do today and Lane (played by Paul Becsi) is in formal attire.

‘Earnest’ suggests that, especially in high society, everyone leads double lives that force all to use certain postures. This is an idea which Wilde, who was a closeted homosexual, would have resonated with.

The Importance of Being Earnest
ran from Thursday 1 June to Saturday 3 June
in First Quad, Oriel College.

Photograph courtesy of Oriel College Garden Play