Whitefish Theatre Company stages Wilde classic
Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 11 years, 9 months AGO
<p>Morgan Phelps as Algernon Moncrieff rehearses a scene from Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest" directed by Nancy Nei, April 9, at the O'Shaughnessy Center.</p>
<p>Katie Nixon as Miss Prism, right, rehearses a scene from Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" April 9.</p>
<p>From left, Amy Chisholm as Cecily Cardew and Jack Eaton as Merriman rehearse a scene from Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest."</p>
<p>Detail of the costumes from Whitefish Theatre Company's production of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest."</p>
<p>From left, Becky Sterling Rygg as Gwendolen Fairfax and Alfred Coggins as John Worthing rehearse a scene from Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest," directed by Whitefish Theatre Company's Nancy Nei, April 9 at the O'Shaughnessy Center.</p>
<p>From left, Becky Sterling Rygg as Gwendolen Fairfax, Alfred Coggins as John Worthing and Gail Cleveland as Lady Bracknell rehearse a scene from Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest," directed by Whitefish Theatre Company's Nancy Nei, April 9 at the O'Shaughnessy Center.</p>
<p>From left, Alfred Coggins as John Worthing, Morgan Phelps as Algernon Moncrieff, Amy Chisholm as Cecily Cardew, Andrew Matulionis as the Rev. Canon Chasuble and Katie Nixon as Miss Prism rehearse a scene from "The Importance of Being Earnest."</p>
<p>From left, Becky Sterling Rygg as Gwendolen Fairfax and Alfred Coggins as John Worthing rehearse a scene from Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest."</p>
<p>From left, Gail Cleveland as Lady Bracknell and Alfred Coggins as John Worthing rehearse a scene from Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest."</p>
<p>Morgan Phelps as Algernon Moncrieff rehearses a scene from Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest."</p>
<p>Alfred Coggins as John Worthing rehearses a scene from Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" with Becky Sterling Rygg as Gwendolen Fairfax.</p>
Whitefish Theatre Company presents Oscar Wilde’s timeless tale, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” starting this weekend.
“The Importance of Being Earnest,” perhaps Wilde’s most well-known and best-loved play, is a sharp-witted comedy in which two young gentlemen living in 1890s England have taken to bending the truth in order to put some excitement into their lives.
Dashing man about town Jack Worthing has invented a ne’er-do-well brother, Ernest, whom he uses as an excuse to leave his dull country life behind to visit the ravishing Gwendolen. Jack’s friend, Algy Moncrieff, decides to also take the name Ernest to woo Jack’s young and beautiful ward, Cecily. Things start to go awry when they end up together in the country and their deceptions are discovered, threatening to spoil their romantic pursuits. Their situation is made even more comedic with the disapproval of Gwendolen’s mother, the formidable Lady Bracknell.
“I have a dream cast, dream crew, and a dream play,” said director Nancy Nei. “Watching this play grow, including the set and stunning period costumes, has been fascinating.”
Despite the play’s being written more than 100 years ago, the timelessness of the social satire has been invigorating to the director and cast.
“When you think of some of the issues of today — style and popular culture, morality and respectability, class conflict, deception and conspiracy — this play highlights, in a very funny way, that human nature never really changes,” Nei said. “Only the facade has changed.”
This rousing romantic escapade combines a tangled plot, the seemingly irresolvable narrative of a farce and some of the most comic and wittiest lines ever written. According to Theatermania, “‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ is a perfect piece of writing — a verbal playground you wouldn't want to add a single word to or subtract a single word from.”
Adds NY Theater, “Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ may be the very funniest play ever. It's certainly among the sturdiest comedies of all time, as much for its on-target skewering of a variety of archetypal personalities as for as its ingeniously silly plot and its seemingly bottomless supply of hilarious and witty bon mots.”
Several veteran actors are in the play, including Alfred Coggins as John Worthing, Morgan Phelps as Algy Moncrieff, Becky Sterling Rygg as Gwendolen Fairfax, Amy Beth Chisholm as Cecily Cardew and Gail Cleveland as Lady Bracknell.
Other main characters are Andrew Matulionis as Reverend Chasuble, Jack Eaton as Merriman, Scotty MacLaren as Lane and Katie Nixon as Miss Prism.
Catch a sneak preview of the show at the O’Shaughnessy Center tonight at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the sneak preview are $10 and available only at the door.
Performances continue Friday, Saturday and April 19 and 20 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday and April 21 at 4 p.m.
Tickets to those shows are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors and $8 for students, with all seats reserved. Purchase tickets at the box office, 1 Central Ave., Whitefish, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays or one hour before performances; online at whitefishtheatreco.org; or by calling 862-5371.
