The Importance of Being Earnest

at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park

Genre: Comedy
Opened 8 July 2009
Written: by Oscar Wilde
Directed: Irina Brown
Cast: Susan Wooldridge (Lady Bracknell), Ryan Kiggell (Jack), Dominic Tighe (Algernon).
Synopsis: What happens when two pretty girls both fall in love with men they believe to be called Ernest? Will they learn that a rose by any other name still smells as sweet?

What the popular press had to say....
HENRY HITCHINGS for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "This production lacks charisma and some of the necessary zip." CHARLES SPENCER for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "This delightful production persuades us to see and hear the play afresh. It helps that we are in the open air, even on a grey and drizzly night, for the breeze, birdsong and rustling leaves banish the feeling that we are watching a dusty museum piece...It is hard to imagine a finer entertainment for an enchanted summer night." BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE for THE TIMES says, "This isn’t your ordinary revival of Wilde... Immediate and urgent this revival isn’t. Mannered and artificial it is throughout." MICHAEL BILLINGTON for THE GUARDIAN says, "By abstracting the play from any perceived social reality and treating it as Oscar in Wonderland, Brown's production blunts its satirical edge."

External links to full reviews from popular press
The Guardian
Daily Telegraph
The Times