"THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST."

Otago Witness, Issue 2179, 28 November 1895, Page 43

"THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST."

Had the cast for "The Impoit%nce of Being Earnest," the new piece which was produced at the Princess Theatre on Monday evening by the BroughBoucicaulfc Company, been published and had it been tlun made known that neither Airs Bcough nor Mr Tifcheradge was included in it, the audience would protiwbly have been a 8m all one. As it was there was a large house, and the merriment provoked by the performance was so continuous during the two houra and odd minutes of its duration that one had really no time to think of the absences from the caab. Those who had s^en the production 12 months ago of the same au'hor'e " Lady Windermere's Fan " were prepared for something very clever and very bright — and they certainly got it. "The Importance of Be'ng Earnest" is a brilliant satire, full of the most witty dialogue, iv which ingenious epigrams and startling paradoxes crop up in bewildefiug wealth. There is practically no plot to the play; which is a farcical comedy of the flimsiest coustruct : OQ ; but its fun is irresistible, bubbling up from the rising of the curtain upon the first »cb, and increasing in intensity until in the third and last act it becomes uproarious. The title itself is * play upon words, two of the male characters being moved with a desire to return to the bap'ismal font to be christened by the name of "Ernest," for the reason that the ladies upon whom they have respectively besto w c i their affections have a strong preference for that name, which in their opinion "inspires confidence." Hence the importance to each of these character of bsing "Ernest ! " There is no dull character in the piece, and, if ono chose to be critical on the subject, one might point to this as being a defect in the comedy, for it is not conceivable that of the seven or eight personages represented in it there should be none who was not capable of uttering brilliant impromptus. "In married life three is company, two is none" is a sentiment of which the morality is donbtles3 questionable, but moat of the other expressions falling from the characters, while smart., are at the same time harmless. "To lose one parent may perhaps be misfortune, to lose both seems like carelessness" — "the truth is rarely pure, and never simple " — "it is always sad to part from someone one has known for. a brief space of time " — " in matters of the gravest moment it is style, not sincerity, that is of vital importance" — "divorces are made in heaven "—"" — " memory is re9pont>ible for nearly all the three-volume novel*" — these may be quoted as examples of the paradoxical saying* which are scattered through the comedy in rich profusion. Borne of the characters are v<;ry grotesque. Lady Bracknell, played with admirable hauteur by Miss Watt-Tanner, is a woman of the world who indulges in cau&tic remarks at the expense of her neighbours, who keeps an ivory tablet on which she has a liet of eligible suitors for her daughter's hand, and who puts the suitors through a close cross-examination — as to their inconie, their vices, and their politics. The Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax, the aforesaid daughter, is a superior and somewhat cynical young Udy, who never travels without her diary, for "one should always have something sensational to read in the train," who informs her lover, when he is on the point of proposing, of her predetermination to accept him, but then makes him go through the form of proposing, and, when he is interrupted by h~r mother bursting into the room, turns to her relative, aud in a tone of authority exclaims, "I must beg you to retire ; this in no place for you ! Mr Worthing is not quite finished ! " Miss Faber gave an exceedingly effective impersonation ot this character, the proposal scene to which reference has just been made being, largely owing to her exertions, particularly amusing. Cecily Cardew, thirmingly represented by Miss Hardy, is a r< nvmtic ingenue, who i% "ouly 18, but admits to 20 when going to evening parlies," who keep 3 a diary, in which she notes down " the wonderful secrets of her life, for if she did not she might forgtt them," and who is condemned by her governess to the study of political economy and other wildly exhilarating subjects. The part of the said governeES, desctibed as " a female of repellant aspect, remotely connected with education," was fittingly played by Mi*s Hill. As John Woitbing, J.P , who, "found" in a handbag at a railway station and provided with the (surname he bears by reason of the circumstance tbat bis finder was the possessor of a ticket to Worthing, has blossomed into a man of means — but with, he is afraid, "no politics, being a Liberal Unionist " — Mr Brough was fitted with a character of whioh -he made the | most, and Blr Boucicault, vivacious and buoyj ant, scored every point in his representation of Algernon Moncrieff, a young man with a flofcitious country friend, whose illness affords ' turn m exevuft for Leaving London when he h*s

any engagement he is desirous of shirking. Mr Carey was well plaoed as Dr Chasuble, a oountry -rector, and Mr M'lntyre showed that muoh can be made out of the small part of a manservant. The piece was admirably mounted, and went apiritadly all through. On Tuesday nighb the powdful drama "A Village Pries'", " which was pUyed with great success by the company two years ago in Dunedin, was produced, Mr Titheradge filling the part of the abbe.