One of Oscar Wilde’s comedy favourites, The Importance of Being Earnest, provided a night of pure laughter and comic entertainment for audiences at the beginning of February this year. The joint production between MADC and Teatru Manoel featured a hilarious cast of local theatre talent, namely Davide Tucci, Maxine Aquilina, Edward Caruana Galizia, Michela Farrugia, and many others.
Although it is definitely not a serious plot, Wilde does tackle the trivial ways in how Victorians dealt with institutions such as marriage, resulting in a satire of Victorian ways. From someone who did not know the story prior to watching this performance, I thoroughly enjoyed the witty one-liners, the colourful characters and the cleverly written that were woven together in the comedy.
Despite the heavily text-based comedy, there were a couple of scenes that were completely silent which were among the most hilarious of moments. To name an example, the moment when Lady Bracknell (Marilou Coppini) left the two lovers, Gwendolen Fairfax (Maxine Aquilina) and Jack/Earnest Worthing (Davide Tucci), alone in a room for the first time in the play, the tension created due to Gwendolen’s proposal expectations and Jack’s nervous nature was enough to make anyone giggle at the situation. Similarly, in the second act, when Algernon and Jack go to apologise to their ladies, who were bitter because of the men’s ‘bunburyist’ actions. There were more than a few chuckles that lit the theatre in the moment, and during the night on the whole.
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