Word: ernest
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...metaphors: "Isn't it great to see America scoring touchdowns again?" When George Bush accused the Democratic ticket of saying that American Marines died "in shame" in Lebanon, Mondale denied it and said Bush didn't have "the manhood" to apologize. Bush, who merits consideration for the Ernest Hemingway Moveable Feast Invidious Braggadocio Trophy this year, replied, "I'll lay my record on any forum, whatever it is, on the manhood, up against his." After his debate with Geraldine Ferraro, Bush told a longshoreman, "Yeah, we tried to kick a little ass last night." That was rather...
Paolo Carozza's Ernest, by contrast, lacks some of the necessary dash. Whether this is inherent in the part or not, he is, unfortunately, upstaged by Algernon. As Jack's beloved Gwendolyn, Anne Higgins is marvelously coy, delivering her studied and empty superlatives with necessary aplomb...
...from the audience and from the humor of their lines. The moment an actor shows he is conscious of the absurdity of what he's saying, the delicate veil shatters and the play falls flat. With only a few setbacks, the Dunster House production of "The Importance of Being Ernest" presents a delightfully self-contained and poker-faced version of Wilde's drawing room satire...
...title suggests, the plot centers around the name Ernest and the troubles which arise when Jack, a young country gentleman of dubious origin, invents a rakish, city-dwelling brother named Ernest whose escapades provide him with an excuse to venture to London. Similarly, Jack's friend, Algernon, has invented a sickly friend, Bonburry, whose continual illnesses provide him, Algernon, with a reason to avoid dinners with his stuffy aunt, Lady Bracknel. It all gets messy when both Algernon and Jack fall in love with women who insist they can only marry men named Ernest...
Wauck has also devised simple and effective sets which suggest the fragility of the superficial English society. Although most of the costumes are nattily effective, Gwendolyn's wig makes her look more like a Muppet then a bombshell, and Algernon's disguise as Jack's devilish brother Ernest looks more like a recent arrival from Palm Beach...