Truly classic plays are like well-known works of music. One can enjoy them again and again, relishing favorite lines like well-remembered melodic motifs and looking to see what new performers will make of the different parts. Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (subtitle: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People) is a charming chamber piece, a staple in any theater company’s repertoire, and it never grows stale. Ever since its premiere on St. Valentine’s Day, 14 February 1895, it has continually been revived to the delight of audiences the world over for its frothy wit, silly story, and clever repartee. In tone, it feels like an operetta of words, and it comes as no surprise that the works of Gilbert and Sullivan were one of Wilde’s inspirations. One hundred years on, journalist Mark Lawson called it “the second most known and quoted play in English after Hamlet.” As Hamlet is the iconic English tragedy, perhaps Earnest is the iconic comedy. But for us, this delightful opus is also tinged with a strain of melancholy, because shortly after the play’s premiere, its author was convicted of “gross indecency” (homosexual acts), sentenced to two years hard labor, and then forced into exile and death three years later in Paris. The run of the show was cut short, and Wilde never wrote another play. For us today this can change the tone of a play about two young men who are hiding secret lives from a purely comic ditty in a major key to something perhaps a bit more complex. Scene from ‘The Importance of Being Earnest.’ Photo courtesy of Greenbelt Arts Center. The production at the Greenbelt Arts Center, capably directed by Stephen Cox, is a pared-down version, as if played by a small chamber orchestra. Interestingly, its sound design, by Penny Martin, uses snippets of famous music very effectively not only for opening and closing the acts, but to introduce particular characters. In a show in which how things sound is paramount and language is music, the accents in this production are very good. The costumes by Linda Swann are appropriate and gorgeous, especially Lady Bracknell’s (although Cecily would not have been wearing a sleeveless dress, no matter how warm it was in the garden), and Maureen Roult’s wigs equally so. Everything else is quite minimalist. Nothing at all is done to dress the very basic set in the Greenbelt Arts Center, perhaps to allow the piece itself to hold all our attention the way music does in an unadorned concert hall, but it is a shame that sets are where GAC productions often seem most limited. Cox does make the clever choice to use the center French doors as the entrance to the garden; the tea table is moved from one side of them to the other during intermission, and we see two characters peering toward the audience through them at the end of Act Two, and peering back out of them at the beginning of Act Three. Scenes from ‘The Importance of Being Earnest.’ Photos courtesy of Greenbelt Arts Center. As is appropriate in any chamber piece, it is the performers who really shine, from the moment that Nathan Rosen, as the Jeeves-like butler Lane, smooth as a cello, uses his feather duster as a conductor’s baton at the top of the show. Chris Dullnig, as the other butler, Merriman, seems as long-suffering as an old bassoon. Lucian Clarkewallis, as the cheerfully conniving Algernon, projects sly charm even while stuffing his face with cucumber sandwiches and muffins throughout the show. As the mouthpiece for most of Wilde’s witticisms, he comes across as a clever clarinet. Michael McCarthy, as Algernon’s foil, the serious, put-upon, and yes, earnest John Worthing, resembles more of a French horn. His perplexed expressions while others are speaking provide an amusing counterpoint. The scattered Miss Prism, played by Cathy Barth, witters like a piccolo with many expressions of comic distress, and Stuart Fischer’s Canon Chasuble plays duets with her in his bassoonish manner. Celia Richardson enchants in her flutey portrayal of the lovely, naïve, and alluring Cecily. Sarah Shauffler’s Lady Bracknell strikes all the right notes, although one might wish for a deeper timbre, especially when she rises to her most dragon-like, such as when she is screaming at Prism. Shauffler’s performance feels like a clarion trumpet, whereas the part calls for more of a tuba (also, Lady Bracknell would never have crossed her legs at the knee! Scandalous!). But the First Chair of this small orchestra belongs to Jenn Robinson as Gwendolyn, a virtuosic violin, sweet enough to cause Jack to fall in love with her but formidable enough to hint that she may turn into her Aunt in time. Robinson is perfectly suited to the role. If you have never seen The Importance of Being Earnest, this production is a fine first hearing — you will laugh at the witticisms and the amusing twists of the plot. But even if you have experienced it multiple times and will not be taken by surprise, it can always be enjoyed anew, like a Mozart sonata, with familiar phrases tickling the ears and the charmingly silly plot wrapping around you like a well-loved melody. See The Importance of Being Earnest at Greenbelt Arts Center. It is lighthearted music for the mind. Running Time: Approximately two hours and 20 minutes with two intermissions. The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People plays weekends through November 16, 2024 (Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM; Sundays at 2:00 PM), at the Greenbelt Arts Center in the historic Roosevelt Community Center, located at 123 Centerway, Greenbelt, MD. Tickets ($24 General Admission; $22 Senior/Military; $12 Child/Student) may be purchased online. For more information, phone the box office at 301-441-8770 or email [email protected]. The cast and creative credits for The Importance of Being Earnest are online here. COVID Safety: Masks are optional except at the performance November 10, which is mask-required. The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People By Oscar Wilde Directed by Stephen Cox Produced by Alan Duda CAST Lane: Nathan Rosen Algernon Moncrieff: Lucian Clarkewallis John Worthing, J.P.: Michael McCarthy Lady Bracknell: Sarah Schauffer Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax: Jenn Robinson Cecily Cardew: Celia Richardson Miss Prism: Cathy Barth Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D.: Stuart Fischer Merriman: Chris Dullnig