The Importance of Being Earnest – Speke Hall

The challenge of Oscar Wilde is not in the words but ensuring the performance does them justice. There were no such fears with director and founding member Mark Hayward’s laugh-out loud production which delights from the off.

As butler Lane (Hannah Pryal) prepares tea at the London home of dandy Algernon Moncrief (James Alston) there is a hint of the fun and frolics to follow when his friend John Worthing (Harry Drummond) arrives, explaining that when he tires of life in the country looking after his teenage ward, he escapes to enjoy the high life of the city under the guise of seeing his wayward brother, ‘Ernest’. Algernon, in turn, regales him with his exploits of escaping the city in reverse fashion. Algernon’s aunt, Lady Bracknell (Madeline Hatt), arrives with her daughter, Gwendolen Fairfax (Pryal), to whom John wishes to become engaged, but can he meet Lady Bracknell’s exacting standards?

Switching to John’s country estate, his ward, Cecily Cardew (Hatt), toys with her Governess, Miss Prism (Pryal) whilst Dr Chasuble (Alston) loiters. With butler Merriman (Drummond) much put upon, it’s one thing for John when Algernon turns up pretending to be his wayward brother ‘Ernest’ in order to woo the young ward, but when Gwendolen arrives with Lady Bracknell in hot pursuit, the fun really starts in a hilarious series of mistaken identities: will anyone learn the importance of being earnest?

As a long-time fan of The Pantaloons, it was a pleasure to see them back performing in the beautiful grounds of Speke Hall with the next generation of Loons carrying on the tradition of taking well-known plays and giving them a contemporary twist with live music, audience interaction, pop culture references, and physical comedy, whilst all the time being respectful of the original. The Pantaloon’s Earnest is a marriage made in heaven as they combine Wilde’s wonderful rapid wit with their own equally fast-paced physical comedy.

With the simplest of staging consisting of two chairs and some occasional foliage and the backdrop of Speke Hall itself providing the perfect country estate, a multi-talented cast threw themselves into the mix with the minimalist of costume tweaks and the merest of props to allow the cast of four to transform effortlessly between characters and maintain the energetic pace of storytelling with Wilde’s clever wordplay. I particularly enjoyed the original musical montages that seamlessly segued us from scene to scene.

The added challenge of the location is the proximity of Liverpool Airport, yet the cast delightfully interwove the occasional background noise into the plot and whilst the temperature had dropped, fortunately the heavens held, and this energetic and musical production proved more than enough to warm our hearts.

The Pantaloons are a vibrant and anarchic theatre company whose main aim is to reinvent classic literature as postmodern folk theatre. Further details and their current touring productions at https://thepantaloons.co.uk/

Speke Hall is one of the finest examples of a wood framed wattle-and-daub Tudor manor house and is open to the public. Amongst the many things to discover there are a thunderbox toilet, a priest hole and where the word ‘eavesdrop’ comes from, but not, as an American tourist once queried, why they built it so close to the airport! Further details available at https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/liverpool-lancashire/speke-hall

The Pantaloons will be returning to Speke Hall with their madcap take on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor on 3^rd August at 7pm, further information and booking details at The Merry Wives of Windsor | National Trust

If that date is a challenge, then why not take advantage of The Pantaloons’ premiere performance at Shakespeare North Playhouse on 2^nd August at 6.30pm, further information and booking details at https://shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk/event/the-merry-wives-of-windsor/

Reviewer: Mark Davoren

Reviewed: 24^th July 2024

North West End UK Rating: