stage Oscar Wilde’s best known comedyThe Impor-


tance of Being Earnest is getting a moment in the spotlight at The Old Globe. If you haven’t seen this show, it is high time you got to know a playwright from our LBGT family tree. Wilde, one of the brilliants in a long line of brilliant and tortured gay ancestors, created a comedy with dazzling wordplay and hilarious, absurd situations. First appearing on stage for Valentine’s Day


1895, Earnest was dubbed a “trivial comedy for serious people.” The show features (not surpris- ingly) two carefree bachelors, Jack and Algernon, who each have a carefully hidden double life. Then, Algernon discovers Jack’s alter-ego… in the country he lives as a man named Ernest, to escape city life. Algernon promptly travels to Jack’s country estate to pose as the fictional figure of his own. Silliness ensues, with whimsical ingénues, jealous fiancées, indomitable dowagers and the most famous handbag in theatre history! Earnest at The Old Globe features a nine-member


cast: Kate Abbruzzese (Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax), Sam Avishay (Merriman), Helen Carey (Lady Bracknell), Helen Cespedes (Cecily Cardew), Christian Conn (Algernon Moncrieff), Rodney Gardiner (Rev. Canon Chasuble), Daniel Harray (Lane, Moulton), Jane Ridley (Miss Prism), and Matt Schwader (John “Jack” Worthing). Artistic Director Barry Edelstein notes, “I am thrilled to welcome the great Maria Aitken here for her Globe debut. Along with a distinguished acting career that saw her perform in more than one production of this play, she has forged a directing career notable for its accomplishment in high comedy. There’s no director in whose hands I’d rather see this gloriously witty play and the actors and designers Maria has gathered promise a beguiling and wild night of Wilde.” Aitken, like Wilde, has been a bigger name “across the pond,” in England. You may have caught her directing work in the La Jolla Playhouse production of Alfred Hitchcock’sThe 39 Steps. Most recently she directed August Strindberg’s Creditors at American Players Theatre. Addition- ally, Aitken has taught courses in high comedy at the British American Drama Academy, The Juilliard School, Yale School of Drama, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, The Actors Center, Academy for Classical Acting and Royal National Theatre Studio. She received a Master of Arts from University of Oxford in English Language and Literature and she is a Trustee of the Noel Coward Foundation.


48 RAGE monthly | FEBRUARY 2018


WILDE THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST by lisa lipsey


REVIVING


OUT AT THE GLOBE Thursday, February 8


Pairing her up with Oscar Wilde’s script (Playwright, 1854–1900) is kismet! Wilde also hails from across the pond. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, and attended University of Oxford, where he proved to be a brilliant scholar, winning the Newdigate Prize for his poem “Ravenna.” His first collection,Poems, was published in 1881. His only novel,The Picture of Dorian Gray, was published in 1890 and was widely condemned by Victorian critics for its “immoral” content, but it remains one of his most acclaimed works. In the subsequent years, Wilde found success as a playwright, with his comediesLady Windermere’s Fan (1892),A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), andThe Importance of Being Earnest (1895). His play Salome (1893), written in French, was refused a license in London but, 13 years later, was adapted by Richard Strauss into a successful opera. The Marquess of Queensberry strongly disapproved of the playwright, and a quarrel ensued that eventually led to Wilde’s imprisonment for homosexuality.


6:30 p.m., curtain at 8 p.m. SeeThe Importance of Being Earnestin an evening for the whole LGBT community! This event includes three drinks from the wine and martini bar, delicious appetizers, door prizes, and a pre-show mixer. Featured guest Christian Conn (Algernon inEarnest) will give us a brief “inside scoop” on what it’s like to play one of Oscar Wilde’s most unforgettable characters, the witty and stylish Algernon Moncrieff. Everyone is welcome. Just $24 per person in addition to your theatre ticket. Sponsored by Sabuku Sushi.


He was sentenced to two years hard labor and was released in 1897. He moved to France under the name Sebastian Melmoth and, while there, wrote his famous poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol.” Sadly, he died in exile in 1900, five years after writing Earnest.


The Importance of Being Earnest runsthrough Sunday, March 4at The Old Globe. For tickets and more information, call 619.234.5623, or go totheoldglobe.org.


(from left) kate abbruzzese appears as the hon. gwendolen fairfax, matt schwader as john worthing, helen carey as lady bracknell, christian conn as algernon moncrieff, and helen cespedes as cecily cardew. photo by jim cox.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56