Despite knowing Thornden well and visiting the Hall for numerous parents’ evenings, this was the first time I’d visited the Hall for a show.
The Importance of Being Earnest was being shown as a live broadcast of the performance taking place at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End. There was a short interview with the production’s director, Adrian Noble, and a further short piece with David Suchet, playing the unforgettable Lady Bracknell, before the performance.
Both of these gave insights as to their thoughts on Oscar Wilde’s wonderful writing and wit. David Suchet’s insights into the difficulties and challenges of playing a female role were revealing, as was the fact he’d asked to wear a corset for this role!
The Importance of Being Earnest at Thornden Hall: 8th October 2015
I must confess the only Wilde I’ve read is his fairytale, The Happy Prince, which is a great story and one I heartily commend.
I’m not going to give anything away about the plot of The Importance of Being Earnest but I would say now if you’ve not seen it, put it on your list of things to do. It is easily the funniest play I’ve ever seen but also one of the most amusing works of prose I’ve come across in any format. Any fan of P.G. Wodehouse would love Earnest for its wit and the main male characters would be very at home in the Drones’ Club and would be the sort of men about town Bertie Wooster would be friends with.
Thornden Hall in Chandler’s Ford
I had a wonderful evening out at Thornden Hall. The show was great and the Hall comfortable with good visibility all around. To be able to watch a West End production without having the hassle of going to the West End is a great idea and the Hall means we have such a facility on our doorsteps.
The team at Thornden Hall are keen to make the Hall better known as an entertainment venue and it deserves to be. The Hall was about half full for this show. There should have been a sellout. Both the venue and the show deserved that.
The Hall has excellent facilities. I was also impressed with the bar but not for the reasons you might think, honestly! My soft drink (again, honestly!) was significantly cheaper than the standard pub or cinema/theatre, the bar staff were helpful and the main thing to remember is no glass is allowed inside the Hall. They generally use plastic glasses which you can take into the Hall with you.
There’s also a small but nice range of ice-creams, crisps, nuts etc. Toilets are excellent and kept up together well. The Hall seats are comfortable and there is nowhere without a good view. This is really important for someone like me who is under 5’ and who dreads having her view blocked by someone tall!
The range of shows offered by the Hall is impressive. Thornden Hall will be showing Hamlet (with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role) today (15th October 2015). I cannot imagine a greater contrast in mood from a romantic farce (Wilde) to the moody Dane (Shakespeare). Thornden Hall really are catering for most tastes!
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde was born on 16th October 1854. He was one of three legitimate children (though his younger sister died very early) and he had illegitimate brothers and sisters (two of whom sadly died in a fire).
Wilde’s writing talent took off when he was at Oxford where he won the Newdigate prize for his poem, “Ravenna”.
Although widely known because of his homosexuality, Wilde did marry and have children though the marriage broke up after the scandal with Lord Alfred Douglas broke and Wilde was jailed in Reading. His wife took the children to Switzerland and adopted the name Holland. Wilde died in Paris in November 1900, effectively broken by the scandal.
Although best known for The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde was a novelist too with The Picture of Dorian Grey still in print now. Importance was clearly an important theme to him given another of his other renowned plays was A Woman of No Importance! Lady Windermere’s Fan and An Ideal Husband are also still produced.
The Importance of Being Earnest remains Wilde’s best known work and with good cause. The script is fresh, the plot vibrant and the humour has not dated as the romantic comedy theme is one that all ages can identity with.
The page of notes given to explain the play were useful and I found it incredible that the first performance of this play was on 14th February 1895 at St. James’ Theatre, London.
Some of Wilde’s more literary turns of phrase would be edited out if he were writing this play today and that would be a shame to put it mildly. The joy of his language and the way he plays with it makes this play special. I cannot think of many playwrights who manage to finish their work with the title of their play and it isn’t out of place. It is such a stylish ending.
I discovered most of the Wilde quotes I know come from this play.
Memorable Quotes
A handbag?
To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune…to lose both seems like carelessness.
No married man is ever attractive except to his wife.
The amount of women in London who flirt with their own husbands is perfectly scandalous. It is simply washing one’s clean linen in public.
All women become like their mother. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.
You are perfectly right in making some slight alteration. Indeed, no woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years.
Oscar Wilde’s quote “I have nothing to declare but my genius” is hardly modest but on the strength of Earnest is well merited. Of course Wilde became not just famous but infamous (a rare achievement which does not generally bring happiness to the person achieving that unfortunate double). He was jailed for his homosexuality in 1895, being released two years later. His Ballad of Reading Gaol was published in 1898 and was his last work. The scandal meant Earnest only had 86 performances initially but it has been revived many times since, the first one being a year after Wilde’s death in 1900.
The theme of Earnest? Be yourself!
The play is in 3 Acts broken by 2 intervals of 15 minutes each. This worked brilliantly for loo and refreshment breaks. The play is very fast moving and I found I was eagerly waiting for the next witty line, the next scene, not wanting to miss a thing, which is always a good sign.
David Suchet
For me, David Suchet is the definitive Poirot, the same way Jeremy Brett was the definitive Sherlock Holmes.
Lady Bracknell is the first female role David Suchet has played and he was brilliant at it. Frankly her ladyship is a gorgon and that was brought wonderfully to life by him. I should imagine though it must be something of a relief to get out of costume after each performance.
If you get the chance to see this production, go. You will laugh out loud and have a wonderful time.
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A quote of Wilde’s I like is:- “I’m too old to know everything.”
Another, when he as attending a boring party, he was asked. “Are you enjoying yourself?” “Yes, fortunately, there is no one else here to enjoy.”
“A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone’s feelings unintentionally.”
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
“The difference between a Saint and a Sinner is that a Saint has a past and a Sinner a future.”
I was surprised to discover that almost all of the Wilde quotes I know come from Earnest and the wit is so fresh, amazing for a play over 100 years old! I like the “too old” comment. I’m not sure if it shows humility or if it is a dig at those know it alls of the younger generation (who annoy their own as well as everyone else) but whichever it is, I like it!
I really like the play, and it’s surprising how it is still funny after over 100 years. My favourite scene was the scene where Algernon and John are arguing over the muffins.
Wilde and P.G. Wodehouse share a rare distinction of still being funny over a century later. (Not everyone appreciates the humour in Shakespeare! Wilde and Wodehouse are more accessible). And yes I liked the muffin scene. Personally I would have prefered a toasted crumpet…
I was totally enchanted by David Suchet’s stage presence on the night.
One year I taught an adult student and we discussed characters. I told her I love David Suchet’s Poirot, and she told me “Yes I know him” as they are relatives. I was speechless of course. At the following lesson, she gave me a signed black and white photograph of David Suchet as a gift.
I’ll never forget this student!
David Suchet possessed tremendous charm and his mannerism was interesting to watch.
The story itself was well interpreted in this show. The muffin scene was silly and entertaining. The dynamic of the show was brilliant; there was no dull scene. What a successful and talented cast.
Thornden Hall played a great host to this incredible show. Watching a fine show here at a theatre just down the road makes me cherish the community more, yet many local people may not have discovered so many hidden secrets in our community, such as this well-established, fine theatre, with its ambition to promote culture.
It was a wonderful show. David Suchet is well known for doing what he thinks necessary to bring the characters he plays to life and/or to portray them as accurately as the author wrote them. That latter point is especially true for Poirot. He also made an excellent Reacher Gilt in the adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal (which I highly recommend for all fantasy fans). I hope Thornden Hall can reach out more and that more of us locals appreciate having such a venue on our doorstep.
“Thirty-five is a very attractive age.” How confident and authoritative that Lady Bracknell was. I shall remain forever at 35!
Vanity, Janet, all is vanity as the Good Book says! I’m 49 and proud of it. When, hopefully, I get to 50, I shall be 50 and proud of it! Okay ill health can grind people down, sadly, but I remain convinced someone’s true age is in their state of mind and not on their birth certificate – so there!
My mother had me when she was 35. That was VERY old as she already had 8 other children by then. I remember how old I felt my mother was when I was a small child.
Now my mother is still healthy in her 80s, with sharp memories, but somehow I start pulling out occasional strands of white hair and start having a sense of ‘age’.
I try keeping my agility by doing sports. Recently I’ve been beaten by some OAPs in table tennis games – these OAPs are both mentally and physically fit!
Mental age? One should remain child-like, not childish, for as long as possible. Keep your curiosity and sense of wonder for ever.
Couldn’t agree more, Mike. There is always something interesting to learn or discover, all good stuff for your soul and brain. And I was very pleased to discover just how witty Oscar Wilde was.