Word: algernon
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
OSCAR WILDE'S witty dialogue is the only saving grace in the Boston Shakespeare Company's production of The Importance of Being Earnest. From Algernon Moncrief's description of the practice of "bunburrying" in the first scene to his statement in the last that "style, not sincerity, is the vital thing," all entertainment value comes from Wilde himself and not from the actors' plastic performances...
...this farce that mocks the English aristocratic culture of the 1890's, the central character Algernon (James Finnegan) has invented a sick younger brother, Bunburry, as an alibi for his many trips to the country. His friend, John Worthing (Henry Woronicz) has a similar stratagem: he is Ernest in town and Jack in the country. The drama focuses on the confusion engendered by these men's double identities when they meet their lovers-to-be--who both insist that their husbands be named Ernest...
...only exception is Finnegan's convincing and zany portrayal of the gay, foppish Algernon, who devours cucumber sandwiches, bread and butter and muffins with dainty relish while seriously maintaining, "When I am in great trouble I refuse everything but food and drink." His candid approach makes the most of other similarly ridiculous lines...
...interesting or useful was Director Francis Cullinan's decision to cast a man, Bill Murphy, as the overbearing Lady Bracknell, Algernon's audacious and obnoxious aunt. If the aim was for some unusual dramatic effect, by the play's end this effect dissipates as Murphy becomes sufficiently convincing as a woman...
...directions are occasionally forgotten because of the extreme humor of the dialogue. But the actual women in The Importance of Being Earnest, Riggs and Worthing's "excessively pretty 18-year-old ward" Cecily Cardew (Melinda McNavy), act like two adolescents in love for the first time. After Cardew leaves Algernon, whom she has just met, she says deridingly that "a momentary separation from someone to whom one has just been introduced is almost unbearable." But their costumes are distasteful and their overly innocent manners crush Wilde's lines to triteness...