The Importance of Being Earnest - The Pantaloons

I always enjoy a Pantaloons show. I like their style – madcap, physical, and often slightly anarchic but not without depth and substance.

The Importance of Being Earnest is not an obvious choice of play for them – it has little depth and doesn’t lend itself easily to anarchy. But that didn’t stop the Pantaloons bringing their customary verve and vigour to it at the Underground Theatre on 7^th May 2016. With added songs, audience participation, and numerous un-Wildean interjections, they unashamedly turned the piece into a proper Pantaloons show.

Wilde purists may have been taken aback by the way the physical became just as integral to the humour as the words. Lady Bracknell (Kelly Griffiths), Doctor Chasuble (Neil Jennings), and Miss Prism (Alex Rivers), in particular, became much funnier through their physical characterisation than I have often seen them portrayed.

But a Pantaloons show is no place for purists. As they say in their programme notes, the company aims to “wrench these works from the closed world of theatrical and educational institutions and return them to the breathing, bustling world of the outdoors, telling contemporary stories in a contemporary way to contemporary audiences.”

So if you’re attracted by the title and only want to see a traditional production of The Importance of Being Earnest, then, I’ll be honest, this may not be entirely for you. But if, on the other hand, you’re ambivalent about the title because you think it’ll be the same old thing, then I’d urge you to give the Pantaloons a go. You’ll enjoy it more than you think, and it definitely won’t just be the same old thing.

And that goes for Earnest, their Shakespeares, and any of their other productions too. So if you’ve missed Earnest (it's on tour until 14th May), the Pantaloons are on tour with three productions over the summer months. Take a look at their website for details of Gulliver’s Travels, The Canterbury Tales, and Romeo and Juliet.