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The Importance of Being Earnest @ John Carroll Univ. 4/3 The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is one of my two favorite plays -- the other being James Goldman's Lion in Winter. They are vastly different from each other with two exceptions. They are both costume dramas, and they're both witty wars of words. Just as I could not imagine Lion set in any other time than the playwright intended (late 1100s) neither can I imagine Earnest set any other time than the Victorian era in which it was written. It just does not lend itself to Edwardian or pseudo-Edwardian or the Flapper era.

Thus I was a bit disconcerted Friday evening at John Carroll University’s Kulas Auditorium, when the Department of Communication & Theatre Arts presented this classic play. Directed by long-time local director and JCU faculty member Martin Friedman, with the native Clevelander and versatile Equity actor Mitchell Fields as the indomitable Lady Bracknell, the production fell somewhat short of my expectations. Perhaps they were too high, considering this was a college production. So, I back up and try again.

All roles other than Lady Bracknell were taken by students at JCU, nearly all of whom are not majoring in theater, but will become doctors or engineers or politicians or a member of some other highly-educated and very skilled profession. They cannot be judged by the standards one applies to a production consisting of all theater majors, who should be studying, among other things, elocution, diction and projection.

Then, too, Kulas Auditorium is quite a large space, requiring rather large voices in order for the words not to be lost. A wordy play suffers somewhat from the circumstances in which it finds itself.

This quibble aside, the production values were very high. The set by Keith Nagy was ingenious, using large boards to easily change the basic set décor from indoors to a garden. Lighting by Michael Simons and sound by Eric Simna added greatly to the overall effect. The costumes by Lee Homan & Timothy Sklodonski were not quite as effective, however. I find it very difficult to believe that any properly-brought up young lady in the throes of the Victorian era would have worn gowns so short as to readily display her ankles, or one that would have been slit to above her knees. Lady Bracknell’s costumes, hats and wigs were excellently done, however, adding immeasurably to her image and posture. Although a freshman, stage manager Courtney Miller kept the fast-paced action flowing smoothly.

For more information about future productions by the JCU Theater Department, call 397-4428.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATroadrunner.com
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