The Importance of Being Earnest
Ivanhoe Grammar School VCE Theatre Studies students last week performed the play The Importance of Being Earnest to rave reviews.
Under the direction of Mr Shaun Murphy, Head of Theatre Studies, students rigorously rehearsed Oscar Wilde’s most famous play. Earnest is the story of two bachelors, John ‘Jack’ Worthing and Algernon ‘Algy’ Moncrieff, who create alter egos named Ernest to escape their tiresome lives and social obligations. But trouble arises with their respective love interests, Gwendolen and Cecily, who think they are stepping out with the same man. The play was first performed on February 14, 1895 at St. James Theatre in London and it satirises the triviality and stuffiness of Victorian England and is widely acknowledged as Wilde’s finest comedy.
Lead roles were played by Thomas Currie (as Algy), Nicole Wishart (as Gwendolen), Sam Moorhen and Josh Chieng (as Jack), Lucy Foster and Amelia Fear (as Cecily). Wilde’s signature fast-paced verbosity was no trouble for the students with one audience member calling it the best thing he’d seen. Mr Murphy praised the student’s dedication to their craft saying that the “…celebrated comedy came into full bloom at the hands of this VCE cohort of theatre studies students. Their attention to detail in both playing style and context was manifest in all areas of production, resulting in an interpretation of …Earnest that was joyous, nuanced, fast-paced and engaging.”
This ‘trivial play for serious people’ elevated theatre work at The Ridgeway Campus yet again.
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