Review: 'The Importance of Being Earnest'

by Nina Luckmann, with photographs by Jason Baker

This year’s sixth form play -The Importance of Being Ernest- perpetuated the claimed reputation that has developed over the years. The piece pivots around two friends - Jack and Algernon - desperate to escape their real life responsibilities and nagging relatives. The two gentlemen thus adopt a mutual pseudonym (‘Ernest’) as a means to travelling back and forth between countryside manors and the luxury city life. Yet after both becoming engaged under their aliases, they are caught in an awkward spiral of deception as the aunt Augusta’s overbearing authority complicates an already knotted issue.

 The sixth form directors, as ever, took a well known play and made it their own. And not without success; both Harry and Emily’s distinct personality was reflected in the script and tone of the piece. The changeovers were fluid and quick, the play beautifully cast (with house drama high-fliers Rory Bishop, Bex Emerton, Harry Neame, and others not failing to deliver) with funny, witty interjections contributing to it’s comical nature (some of which was intentional, and some less so…). In the words of Alice: ‘despite having seen the play hundreds of times, they managed to make it funny again’. Indeed, for someone who had not seen the play before, it was delivered with coherence and clarity that made it easy to understand. And the underlying message was clear: it is important to be e(a)rnest.