by AMY BARRATT

Doing The Importance of Being Earnest is like doing Hamlet: Every third line or so is a familiar quote. If an actor has to figure out how to say, “To be or not to be,” as if it’s occurring to the character for the first time, the same goes for, “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”

Director Ben Barnes and a uniformly strong cast get back to the essentials of Earnest in the current production at the Segal (a co-pro with Toronto’s Soulpepper). Theirs is a fairly straight reading of the deliciously witty comedy, although the action has been moved up to the roaring ’20s from the end of the previous century. (Don’t worry, we are not treated to the spectacle of Lady Bracknell in drop-waist and bare arms—no matter what period you set the play in, this character must be turned out like a galleon in full sail, and her appearance here doesn’t disappoint.)

Thankfully, everyone on stage manages a respectable English accent. As for all those wonderful speeches (characters in Wilde give speeches more than they converse), there is a fine line between relishing the language and becoming self-conscious about it. But, for the most part, the actors resist the urge to mug for laughs and—excepting a few deliberate asides—remember to engage with each other. What they end up with is a sparkling interpretation of this deeply shallow, classic play.

The willowy Damien Atkins—who is working so much at the Segal he’ll soon have to be put on the permanent payroll—is marvellously foppish as Algernon. It’s not his fault that his character becomes less interesting when, in service to the plot, he falls in love with Cecily. Ben Carlson overcomes the handicap of his first costume—a checked suit in which he is sadly reminiscent of an oversized gouda in a net bag—to become a charming, funny Jack.

In her broad and original interpretation of the pivotal role of Miss Prism, Brenda Robins is a revelation. Nancy Palk rescues Lady Bracknell from the drag queen extremes to which she has been taken in other productions, and still gets her full share of laughs.

Peter Hartwell’s set is both beautiful and serviceable, with just the right balance of realism and whimsy. Apart from the unfortunate cheese suit, David Boechler’s costumes are spot on.

Barnes, ex-artistic director of the Abbey in Dublin, has put his personal stamp on the play with a few directorial flourishes that emphasize the artificiality of the piece. In another play, someone watering flowers with an obviously dry watering can might be jarring—in this one, real water would seem wrong.

This production claims to have one real intermission and one five-minute break, but let’s be honest, once you bring the house-lights up and let people leave their seats, you’ve got a second intermission. Both breaks are there to accommodate set changes, but the changes don’t really require so much time. Either one could have been accomplished under about ninety seconds of “Ain’t Misbehavin’” or some other lively ’20s instrumental.

The Importance of Being Earnest is at the Leonor and
Alvin Segal Theatre of the Saidye (5170 Côte-Ste-Catherine)
until Nov. 27, 739-7944

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