The Drama Barn looks a little different this weekend – you might have noticed. Outside there’s bunting, a badminton net and Edinburgh theatre troupes selling cucumber sandwiches. Inside, audiences are taken to a bunting-clad performance space in thrust format, completed by a three-piece band, plenty of greenery and an all-white back wall. No detail has been spared, the seating is decorated, sheets are hung over the stage balcony and Merriman and Lane (Jess East and Jon Edwards) introduce the play and interval to spectators.
Oscar Wilde’s late-Victorian comedy charts a couple of days in the life of Jack Worthing, who goes by the alias Ernest in the country. When he becomes engaged to Gwendolen Fairfax, to mixed feelings from her mother Lady Augusta Bracknell, Earnest returns home to tell his adopted niece Cecily Cardew. Upon his return, however, Jack is joined by friend Algernon Moncrieff, in the guise of Jack’s apparently long-lost brother Ernest. Hilarity ensues as characters try to reinvent themselves and Wilde satirises dandyism and the gentry in Victorian society.
Wilkins’ production is very strong, if occasionally dragging. As Ernest (or Jack), Louis Lunts is perfect – instantly likeable while retaining an element of ridiculousness perfectly befitting Victorian melodramatic conventions. Occasionally Lunts seems a little lost on the stage, however, particularly opposite Sam Lawson’s Algernon, where the energy of scenes often drops. In the first act, Lawson’s depiction of the character is a harsher, unlikeable one compared to other representations of Ernest’s friend, though in the second act the charm and likeability that audiences might expect from Algy suddenly returns. Though he is strongly reminiscent of Rupert Everett’s portrayal of Algernon in Oliver Parker’s film version, Lawson does bring his own touch to the character. Nonetheless, both are a strong double-team, particularly in the second act.
Helena Clarke undoubtedly steals the show as Gwendolen Fairfax, with some of the best one-liners in the play, and excellent characterisation and comic timing. Her Gwendolen is feisty and mesmerising, wielding control over her Ernest as she dances around the stage, with her later companion Cecily Cardew (Meg Roberts) providing a perfect partner against the two Ernests. The women are in a league of their own, along with Edith Kirkwood as Lady Bracknell, who plays a powerful, steely character with verve and style.
There isn’t necessarily anything badly wrong with Earnest, but the performance also doesn’t always go as far as one might hope. With so much movement around the stage, it is sometimes easy to become distracted by characters walking around in circles, just as the lighting is often unoriginal or too basic, though very well executed. Emily Spooner’s costumes are perfect, and producer Rosie Townshend should be praised for her work in bringing together set, costume, music and lighting, as should Wilkins for a well-directed piece.