Review: The Importance of Being Earnest at Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre *****

In an interview with his friend Robbie Ross the month before its 1895 premiere, Oscar Wilde described his latest play as ‘a delicate bubble of fancy’ whose philosophy was to treat all trivial things in life with utmost seriousness and all serious things with ‘studied triviality’.

And Grosvenor Park’s new open-air production of The Importance of Being Earnest (his pillorying of ‘polite’ society surely the pinnacle of Wildean wit) pays homage to its creator’s vision in what is, from start to finish, a joyous slice of rollicking storytelling.

Natasha Rickman’s nimble, gossamer-light direction allows the cast plenty of leeway to play, and play they do with mischievous delight, whether it’s pushing each other just that little bit further in pursuit of the piece’s sly comic absurdities or teasing the audience which is co-opted into the action throughout.

Even the moments of corpsing feel enjoyably conspiratorial.

From the work’s dignified servants to Joanne Howarth’s magnificently imperious Lady Bracknell, there isn’t a weak link on Grosvenor Park’s theatre-in-the-round stage.

Apart from the odd moment they also held their own against a Saturday matinee background soundscape of sirens, seagulls and children’s screams.

James Sheldon and Lucas Button spar with relish – and through mouthfuls of muffins and cucumber sandwiches – as an indignant, blustering Jack Worthing and a decidedly puckish Algy Moncrieff, with their badinage moving seamlessly from capital to country as Algy goes ‘Bunburying’ in the guise of Jack’s ‘wicked’ younger brother Ernest.

Above: James Sheldon as Jack and Lucas Button as Algy. Top: The cast of The Importance of Being Earnest. Photos by Mark McNulty.

Meanwhile Hanora Kamen is luminous as the pretentious but steely Gwendolen (presence wise she reminds of the late Helen McCrory) and Yolanda Ovide invests her Cecily with a cleverly robust perkiness which hides similar inner steel. Their oh-so-polite face-off over who is really engaged to ‘Ernest’ is masterfully done.

Grosvenor Park’s MO includes threading melody through its productions, with its casts usually packed with talented actor-musos.

The Importance of Being Earnest is no different, although music is used sparingly; much of it no more than brief comic punctuations. Paula James’s score comes to the fore in Hertfordshire’s bucolic surroundings where the hapless Jack and Algy become guitar-wielding troubadours to try and re-woo their disgruntled intendeds.

Elizabeth Wright’s design crisply delineates town and country by colour palette – the former comes in shades of solid turquoise that thread through everything from teapots to costumes, while the country is decidedly effervescent in pink...from baby to damask to loganberry to deep burgundy.