The Importance of Being Earnest

National Theatre - Lyttleton, (03/12/24)

Credit: Marc Brenner

Final rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Fourth wall? Shattered it mate. This production of Oscar Wilde’s classic story sizzles with sarcasm, with a refreshingly modern take on a Victorian tale of social climbing.

Ncuti Gatwa was captivating as Algernon, but equally was he matched by Hugh Skinner’s Jack. The pair were really a tour de force - their scenes were as effortlessly funny as they were bitingly ironic. They spoke directly to the audience with knowing glances, aware of the ridiculousness of their dialogue. Julian Bleach’s duality of butlers was also a riot, capturing the very best of the townhouse ‘Jeeves’ image as well as the calamitous country bumpkin.

The music was also perfectly scored, blending the formal upper class romps with modern delights. At the moment ‘Earnest’ is rejected by Gwendoline’s mother, Gatwa takes to the piano to play a rendition of Bruno Mars’ Marry You. The modern-isms almost shouldn’t work, but they just compliment the story so well. Even during the interval - ‘Guess’ by Billie Eilish was blasting out, a clear sign that this production wanted to embrace the modern rather than persevere with its Victorian setting.

The action itself is a little plain - a problem with the text and not the production, but a simple case of mistaken identity does get a little predictable after a while. Nonetheless there was a collective gasp from the audience as Gatwa turns up pretending to be ‘Earnest’ Worthing, at the moment Jack has just proclaimed he has come from his funeral. It felt very ‘British’, and some of the jokes were certainly tempered that way - jokes about the weather for instance featured heavily. That said, the pacing of the second half picked up significantly, and from one twist to the next, the scandal unfolded so thrillingly it was easy to enjoy it. Lady Bracknell delivered zinger after zinger, a particular favourite being the discussion of Bumbery as no longer fit to live, with Sharon D Clarke stating so dead pan ‘he obviously had complete faith in his physician’ after Gatwa insisted his friend was in fact dead.

The set was quite simple, though beautifully designed. It was slightly annoying that Sharon D Clarke was constantly falling over chairs and dropping her props (and this was definitely not deliberate, as the cast around her scrambled to reset the stage) - but she seemed to relax by the second half: The town house of the first act was a beautiful array of white wooden features coupled with candles and furniture, while the country house made use of an giant painting of a cloudy blue sky, beautifully lit. And I very much enjoyed the ‘fashion show’ that Algeron gave us in front of the curtain while the scenery was changed, with Lane the butler trying to resist helping himself to the Sherry he was holding. The grand interior of the house in the second half, complete with libraries and Greek statues, was also fantastic.

They even made the most of the dramatic ‘handbag’ moment, with Jack disappearing and then reappearing above the stage almost on the roof. It was indulgent but earned. And that curtain call, wow - a simply stunning way to do bows, with the cast emerging in beautifully crafted feathered showpieces and rose petals falling from the sky. It basically rounded off the night in the most joyous way.

Overall I found it a rather delightful evening of theatre, and there was something so captivating about seeing Gatwa on stage. They modernised a Victorian story and told it with such vigour and sarcasm that you couldn’t help but enjoy it, and I say that earnestly.