Imagine if Stephen Colbert wrote and directed a full satire episode of “Downton Abbey”. That’s what Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” feels like in Oklahoma City University’s accommodating thrust Burg Theatre space. A standout, signature co-production by Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre (City REP), Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park and OCU’s Theatre Department, it … Continue reading
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Three-Cornered Theatre: Getting Earnest in OKC
“A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.” Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist Balance and harmony by design: consider the integrity of a three-legged stool. Each independent element shares equal weight-bearing support with the … Continue reading
Stage West: Dead Playwrights Society Revives Orton Farce
Ranking right up there with Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” as ‘possibly the funniest play ever written’ to some, Joe Orton’s “What the Butler Saw” earned cries of “filth!” from members of the audience at its initial run at The Queen’s Theatre in London in 1969. In its press release, Stage West describes … Continue reading
A Splendid Misbehavin’: NTLive’s “She Stoops to Conquer”
What precisely does an Etiquette Consultant do? Given how splendidly every character misbehaves in the National Theatre production of Oliver Goldsmith’s “She Stoops to Conquer” and with glorious abandon, some intentionally, some by “accident of station”, I’d guess the old EC spends most of his/her time sipping tea at the craft table. Unless the delectable … Continue reading
On Wilde Safari: Wingspan’s Earnest Endeavor
Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People premiered in London in 1895 and marked the pinnacle of the Irish writer, bon vivant and irreverent wit’s often scandalous career, also precipitating his shameful downfall. Considered by some the funniest comedy of the age, by many the funniest of any age, … Continue reading
Baby’s Long, Long Way: It’s No Act
“You’ve come a long way, baby.”This congratulatory advertising slogan from 1968 endeavored to sell gender-tailored cigarettes to young professional women, capitalizing on their expanding roles in the non-menial workforce and enhanced personal and sexual freedoms due to the Pill, revealing attire and popularity of women’s lib. Aside from wondering how truly far today’s women have … Continue reading
Wingspan Theatre: Soaring in Creative Balance
It’s no secret that Dallas’ Wingspan Theatre has a smaller production season than many companies: one full-scale stage production, participation in the Festival of Independent Theatres at the Bath House Cultural Center, one staged reading of a new work. Entering its fourteenth season, the company has earned a sterling reputation and a loyal audience for … Continue reading
criticalrant.com Alexandra Bonifield 