The problem with being popular is that too many people know you. And that is much the case with the Ahmanson's production of Oscar Wilde's 1895 "The Importance of Being Earnest." Directed by Sir Peter Hall and presented by the Theatre Royal Bath/Peter Hall Company in conjunction with the Center Theatre Group, the production values are top notch yet the play suffers from the audience's familiarity. The actors during the first few scenes had to enunciate their lines over the appreciative laughter of the opening night crowd—laughter that began before the punch lines were completely delivered. Whatever timing the actors and Hall were striving for was lost.
Hall uses color to punctuate the shift between Act I, which is set in London, with the country (Acts II and III). Kevin and Trish Rigdon's production design makes Algernon Moncrieff's home a muted affair of grays and brown with a slight purplish tone for relief. Algernon and his friend, Ernest, also wear mousy dull colors. Such blandness seems contrary to Algernon's whimsical character yet causes the women to seem like soft spring breezes when the colors of their costumes relieve the dour grayness.
For those unfamiliar with the plot, Algernon (Robert Petkoff) discovers his friend, Ernest Worthing (James Waterston), leads a double life. In London, he's a happy-go-lucky swell called Ernest, but in the country, he becomes Jack, the stern, upright guardian of a young girl, Cecily (Charlotte Parry). He tells her of his younger brother, Ernest, who is always getting in trouble in town.
Conversely, Algernon, has an imaginary friend, Bunbury, who, being rather sickly, is always on the verge of death—most conveniently when Algernon might otherwise have to spend dinner with his boorish aunt, Lady Bracknell (Lynn Redgrave). Jack as Ernest is in love with Lady Bracknell's daughter, Gwendolen (Bianca Amato) but Lady Bracknell's sense of propriety—Jack's unknown parentage--prevents their marriage.
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