The Importance of Being Earnest

Thank you for the invitation to join you for your annual open-air production and to your front of house manager for welcoming me. ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ is probably Oscar Wilde’s best-known play and has some superb characters, coupled with sharp and witty dialogue. Although written in 1894 and satirising the conventions and manners of Victorian Britain, the humour is timeless. Although as the Executive Producer mentions in the programme, it is strange that we as a town commemorate Oscar Wilde’s time spent incarcerated in Reading Prison for ‘gross indecency’, watching this wonderful play in sight of that prison had a certain poignancy. 

Together, the director and cast had worked to ensure that the humour in the script was delivered. They had developed the relationships between their characters, so they were relaxed with each other, entertaining and above all fun. The cast had developed their individual characters, putting their own touch onto these iconic roles. The action flowed well with good pace, and there was effective use of the staging and the entrances and exits flowed seamlessly.

I am always impressed with how Progress Theatre manage to rehearse and bring a complete production across town to perform in the open air without the comforts of a theatre building. Outdoor performances bring their own challenges, not least transporting everything across town, providing staging, seating for the audience, lighting and set as well as ensuring safety for both the cast and the audience. Add in the gradual loss of light and the risk of inclement weather, it must be a logistical nightmare. Co-ordinating the vast team of people needed to undertake all these tasks both before and during the run is no mean feat, so congratulations are due to the director and this team of producers and technical managers as well as the cast. 

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