On Sept. 26 the theater department debuted its first production of the semester, “The Importance of Being Earnest” at the Fritsche Theatre.
“The Importance of Being Earnest” was written by poet and playwright Oscar Wilde in 1895, and since then, many theatrical productions and even several movies have been created based on the original work.
The play follows the life of John Worthing, who lives a double life between himself and a fictitious brother named “Ernest.” Worthing often visits his best friend, and secondary side hero of the show, Algernon Moncrieff. This comedic storyline follows the duo along their life adventures including finding the love of their lives.
Worthing’s love interest in the show is Gwendolen Fairfax, a woman from high fashion and society, who is played by senior Kateri Condon.
Condon finds one of her favorite parts of the rehearsal process is working with the cast.
“I think everyone is bringing something really unique to their character and kind of going outside the box with what these characters have been given to do in the role of this play," Condon said.
Junior Tres Allison plays Moncrieff and hopes the audience will enjoy the style of comedy featured in the show.
“Something that…Mark Minehart, our director, focused a lot on was using the text to create the comedy rather than the physical absurdities of everything," Allison said.
One of this script's biggest difficulties was learning the characters' outdated dialect. Allison and Condon expressed that Melissa Lusher, the department's residential speech and dialects coach, was a great help was in teaching the cast to speak with a received pronunciation dialect; an example of this dialect is used in the British series “Downton Abbey.”
“That was interesting getting used to how flowery the language is. It seems like there's a lot more words than there needs to be, but it’s just very descriptive language,” Condon said.
While everyone going for a major in acting is required to take a dialect class where received pronunciation is built into the curriculum, this will be the first time the cast can utilize these skills.
“Using the text of the play and maintaining that dialect throughout the entire thing and the physicality of people in the 1890s is pretty challenging,” Allison said. “I think with this production specifically, because the cast is in their 20s, it’s really fun to bring that old language to new people.”
“The Importance of Being Earnest” has many themes that the audience can learn while also enjoying the humor, an example can be associated with the title.
"Tell the truth, it serves you well,” Allison said.
Condon talks about how hard the cast has been working to get this production ready for opening day and how she wanted the audience to have a positive takeaway from the play.
“It should be something that just makes you look at life a little bit more lightheartedly,” Condon said.
The production will run until Oct. 5, to see the showtimes and purchase tickets, click here. Students and faculty can receive free tickets with a cardinal card at the box office or by scanning the QR code on the theater promotion posters hanging throughout campus.
