Bard in the Botanics Festival, Glasgow Botanic Gardens – until 29th July 2023
REVIEWED BY RACHEL FARRIER
4****
There is always a slightly magical atmosphere at the outdoor Bard in the Botanics, as the light fades and the audience huddle further into their warm layers (praying the rain holds off), and the beautiful gardens fade behind the glow of the stage lights.
Last night’s performance of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest‘ was no exception and the magic continued with an evening that was a riot of energy and colour, crescendo-ing at the night wore on. Oscar Wilde’s brilliant satire of the English class system has (perhaps sadly) stood the test of time; the upper class, raffish and ridiculously entitled duo of Algernon and Jack bear more than a passing resemblance to a certain recent prime minister and his cronies. Under Gordon Barr’s expert direction, the absurdities of (upper class, English) Victorian attitudes towards marriage and respectability are exposed to their full extent. The duet of James Boal as Algernon and Stephen Arden as Jack are the riotous, irrepressible and hilarious centre of the show, and convey the moral bankruptcy and hypocrisy of their characters with charm and zest. They are clearly having a ball and play off one another with a delightful, slightly crazed silliness.
The iconic role of Lady Bracknell is played to its full, camp extent by Alan Steele who effortlessly portrays the doyenne of double standards, cloaked in the guise of ‘respectability’. The early scene in which Lady B interviews Jack as the potential husband for her daughter Gwendolin was the first of many laugh out loud moments, and the momentum of hilarity builds from there. For me, Éimi Quinn brought the loudest laughs of the night, managing to segue brilliantly between wide eyed, naive teenage ward Cecily Cardew and a distinctly weegie version of the same character in moments of high emotion. The scenes in which she and Claire Macallister (as Gwendolin) oscillate between love and hate for one another have pitch perfect comic timing.
As the plot thickens and the central mistaken/adopted identities of the central characters begin to unravel/become clear, the sub plot of repressed romance between the Reverend Chasuble and Cecily’s governess Miss Prism brings another strand of comedy which is brilliantly rendered by Lynsey-Anne Moffat and Johnny Panchaud who ham it up spectacularly. The denouement in which all identities are revealed and the infamous handbag takes centre stage is terrific, and the audience was still audibly chuckling as we wound our way out of the gardens and into the night. This is a show to lift the spirits, get along in the remaining week if you can.