CHESTER Storyhouse’s outstanding re-telling of The Importance of Being Earnest would be enough to raise applause and laughter from Oscar Wilde himself. Running from Friday, August 16 until Sunday, September 1, the farce utilises much of the company that stars in Gangs of New York, also in Grosvenor Park’s outdoor theatre, and that familiarity is perfect for any audience who has seen both. The play starts with Algie (Lucas Button) awaiting his Aunt Augusta (the excellent Joanne Howarth), who is better known to audiences as Lady Bracknell, and her daughter Gwendolan, with Honore Kamen yet again dominating every scene she is in.
However, before they arrive, Algie’s ‘frenemy’ in Jack Worthing arrives unannounced with the intention of winning Gwendolan’s hand in marriage, with the feeling reciprocated but lacking Lady Bracknell’s approval. What then ensues is ‘Bunburyism’, per Algie’s invention of friend ‘Bunbury’ who is in constant poor health and allows him to miss social events he doesn’t want to attend, such as Aunt Augusta’s dinners. But his interest is piqued when Jack lets slip of his creation in ‘Earnest’, whom his soon-to-be betrothed believes is him and loves him for it – but hates a Jack – while his ward Cecily, based in the country house and played by Yolanda Avide, believes Earnest to be a wayward brother.
And Jack’s troubles really start when he tells Algie – who revels in his role as a bounder – that Cecily just happens to b.