The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest
[BBC dramatisation (sic) featuring Judi Dench, Miriam Margoyles, Martin Clunes, and more]

Rating: * * *

The Importance of Being Earnest is a classic comedy of manners in which two flippant young men, in order to impress their respected beloveds, pretend that their names are “Ernest,” which both young ladies believe confers magical qualities on the possessor. It was first performed for the public on February 14, 1895 at the St. James’ Theatre in London, and is regarded by many critics and scholars as being the wittiest play in the English language.

- Wikipedia

This BBC full-cast recording covers the third and fourth acts of the comedic play, a fact for which I was grateful. It took me three times to buck up and finish listening to the recording, even if the dialogue was wildly humourous at times. I don’t know if I’d have managed finishing it at all if it had included the previous two acts as well.

I believe the difficulty lay in the rather stilted interlude of dialogue between Lady Bracknell (Judi Dench) and “Ernest” Jack Worthing (Martin Clunes, I believe) in the beginning of the recording. Dench seemed a bit confined, a little slow. “Ernest” felt boring throughout. I’m happy to say, though, that Dench’s part improved in the second half – I’m rather a partial fan of hers. And it pains me that something so celebrated by critics is, in my mind, a bit stale. “A handbag?” for me was not wildly comic, but rather painful. Some moments that should have caused for hilarity were unable to produce the proper reaction from me.

Like many works of the time, the dialogue moves well enough, but the pace of the plot seemed at a stand-still too many times for my own liking, until the middle of the fourth act. [I understand it is considered a classic, but I am allowed to find fault in it according to my own tastes, am I not? Or at least to dislike it on its own standing, rather than the standing given to it by many other reviewers.]

The ending was highly predictable, of course, but by then I had no desire of knowing what would happen with the young couples, for I despised both girls and rolled my eyes at the men. I do not quite think disgust with his characters was the main intention of Wilde, and so I’m left a bit disappointed with my impressions of this recording. I understand the satirical nature of the play, but it didn’t seem to really reach out and grab me through the dramatisation.

When all’s said, certain brilliant exchanges of dialogue save this recording, and are the only reason why I give it a mostly favorable review. People should experience it once, but most likely never again.

On the fence.

& ElizabethC