A play within a play? Groundbreaking.
Loosely quoting ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ there, but let’s be honest here, the concept of a play within a play is hardly groundbreaking these days. This sort of production has been around for years, and you may perhaps be thinking that because it’s been done, to critical acclaim on many occasions I hasten to add, that it isn’t much more that could possibly be done with the genre. But, dear reader, that is where you would be mistaken.
Enter Say It Again, Sorry. The theatre company taking the idea of a play within a play and mixing it together with an enormous dose of audience interaction.
Fresh from a few years of great success at the Edinburgh Fringe, Say It Again, Sorry have spent the last 10 months touring their production ‘The Importance of Being… Earnest?’ (The pause is very important) Up and down the country, delighting audiences with their fresh take on the classic Oscar Wilde story which is crammed full of laughter, silliness, interaction and a touch of theatre magic.
Simon Slough’s (Josh Haberfield) theatre company are all ready to stage their new production of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, but there’s a problem, and it’s a pretty big one. The actor playing Earnest fails to turn up for showtime, and there’s only one solution. An audience member will have to step in and play the role. As the show continues, calamitous mishaps cause actors to drop like flies, and it is up to the audience to save the day. And, please, let me make one thing clear from the very start here, this show does not use plants. Any audience member that takes the plunge and decides to take to the stage is completely and utterly unprepared, with not a single clue about what is going to happen. And that is where the magic of this production lies. Audience members become the stars, aided only by pieces of script thrown at them and the guiding hands of the talented and caring cast as the audience become pivotal in controlling the story.
As I have seen this production multiple times, my total currently stands at nine visits, please don’t be confused as I refer to the casts characters being played by multiple performers, and also please note that a number of cast members play a character playing an ‘Importance of Being Earnest?’ Role, for example ‘Jen/Gwen’. I hope that clears up any confusion that may occur here.
Throughout the production, we meet the performer’s of Simon’s troupe. Terry (Guido Garcia Lueches/Ashley Cavender) plays Algernon Moncrieffe, the larger than life gentleman determined to find the fun in everything and simply have a good time. Algernon may be able to go with the flow, switching up the situation to make it fit to his wants and needs, but Terry on the other hand, cannot. He can’t improvise, and throughout, despite being faced with having to perform with an audience member who has no idea what is going on, remains determined to stick to the script exactly and precisely how it was rehearsed, with hilarious results. Gwendolyn, played by Jen who is, in turn, played by Trynity Silk/MJ Lee, commands the stage. She knows what is meant to happen in the script, and she knows what she wants, acting the guide to the audience member Earnest, and others. Whilst Jen’s questionable decisions may cause chaos, she’s a character that you just have to love.
As things go awry, and the hilarity in the chaos multiples at a rapid speed, it is Graham as Lane, played by Rhys Tees, who desperately tries to hold it all together. He wears many hats, and people just keep throwing more at him. With super quick costume changes and regular breaking of fourth wall, you find yourself willing Graham on, a real sense of ‘You’ve got this, keep going’. It wouldn’t be ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ without Lady Bracknell, and that famous line, and here she is as iconic as ever. Throughout nine visits, I’ve actually seen five different Lady Bracknell, each as amazing as the last. Susan Hoffman, Harriet Earle, Lucy Trodd, Amy Cooke Hodgson and Judith Amsenga. Eleanor, playing Bracknell, is the pro. The professional actress who deems herself above the others in this small theatre company, who looks upon the things going wrong as the sign that she deserves better than this. Nevertheless, she tries her best to help the audience cast members in her own unique style.
Every theatre company needs their director and their stage manager, and I’ll wait whilst you attempt to find a better double act than Simon and Josh, played respectively by Josh Haberfield/Tom Bulpett and Ben Mann/Brendan Barclay. Simon is the man in control, with both Bulpett and Haberfield displaying a natural flair for improvisation and audience interaction. Whilst Simon may be willing to do anything to get an audience member on stage, both actor’s put the audiences at ease and help them throughout, whilst seemingly not breaking character. Josh, the stage manager, certainly didn’t know what he was signing himself up for when he agreed to this. Actors go missing, scripts are misplaced, items break and things simply spiral out of control, and Josh tries his best to do his job around it all. Whilst he cannot get a word in with Simon, a simple look to the audience is enough to raise laughter and the audience firmly have his back throughout. The double act really came into their own with the two act touring production of the show, with the pair taking change of merchandise sales during the interval. As stated during the interval whilst the show was in Exeter ‘Things got weird’, the pair are given the freedom to do pretty much anything in order to sell tote bags and tea towels, be that catwalks, selfies, delighting/or being very confused over having a baby in the audience, or even in Josh’s case, removing his shirt. It’s hilarious.
You wouldn’t have a show at all without crew, and there’s one more important member of Simon’s theatre troupe, and that is Kyle the techie, AKA Say It Again, Sorry’s real life director Simon Paris, in charge of lighting and music. If Simon wants a spotlight, or the house lights up to see the audience, that is Kyle’s job, and it all adds to the chaos and hilarity of the show.
With the audience cast members having such a big role in the show, at times outnumbering the actual cast members, ‘The Importance of Being…Earnest?’ Is a perfect example of the magic and wonder of live theatre. No two performances are the same, as no one, not even the cast, know what is going to happen. The audience cast members could say anything, do anything, that would and could drive the narrative in a different and unknown direction, and that is wonderful. In a world where filmed media rules and the rapidly growing use of artificial intelligence threatens to change how media is created, I firmly believe that live performance should be more important than ever. It should be celebrated. This production is something that simply cannot be replicated, AI wouldn’t be able to predict what is going to happen. Put yourself in the mind of an audience member who simply went to the theatre to see a show and ended up on stage, taken from their seat and put into the spotlight, the real life version of one of those chose your own adventure books. Do you step left or right, or in the words of Algernon himself, have you been in ‘the town or the country’. That’s the audience’s decision, they are in control, and every show has a different decision. That could not be done on a screen, somewhere where someone could say, no that’s not right, do this instead, this is something that simply has to be experienced live.
Soon to be returning the Pleasance Courtyard at the Edinburgh, Say it Again, Sorry’s ‘The Importance of Being… Earnest?’ Continues to grow and evolve. Throughout the tour, for me between December 2023 and June 2024, I saw things change, new ideas explored, new scenes put in, others taken out, and it was wonderful to see the show grow into itself and I cannot wait to see where it goes next. I followed its progress around the country and seeing it be so warmly received was amazing. It is being shared with the masses and it is loved. I can only imagine that the future is incredibly bright for this production and its wonderful talented cast and crew. Another highly successful run at the fringe? Another UK Tour maybe? And maybe, I really really hope, a run in the glittering West End? Personally, I couldn’t think of a company that deserves that more.
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