Performing The Importance of Being Earnest at Stevenson University

Stevenson University's production of The Importance of Being Earnest opened this Thursday Nov. 1 at the Inscape Theatre.

The Importance of Being Earnest, written by Oscar Wilde, follows Mr. John Worthing and his friend Algernon Moncrieff, who believe's John's name to actually be Earnest. The story begins with these two characters revealing to each other that they have secret identities. John, who lives in the country, pretends to be his make-believe brother Earnest while he is in town in order to have fun without ruining his reputation back at home. Similarly, Algernon, who lives in town, pretends to be an invalid named Bunbury while he is in the country. John reveals that he wishes to marry Algernon's cousin Gwendolen, and that if she should accept him, he will "kill off" his fake brother/identity of Earnest and live an honest life. John also reveals that he has a ward named Cecily back at home who has become rather smitten with the idea of John's "wicked brother Earnest," so by getting rid of him he will kill two birds with one stone. Algernon, who wants to marry Cecily, goes to the country and pretends to be Earnest so that Cecily will fall in love with him. Meanwhile, Gwendolen reveals that she only loves John because she believes his name to be Earnest. Both Algernon and John then have to pretend to be Earnest, and a crazy identity crises ensues.

I play Lady Bracknell, the old, rich, uptight mother of Gwendolen, who refuses to give consent to John and Gwendolen's marriage. Developing Lady Bracknell's character was definitely the biggest acting challenge I've ever had to overcome, since there is such a large age difference between myself and my character. I naturally have a pretty high voice, and my director had to train me to resonate vocally from my stomach instead of from my nose and skull. I also trained to elongate my vowels. In conjunction with learning RP along with the rest of the cast, I had to modify my RP in some places to produce an accent more fitting of an older woman. I also had a habit of walking and moving my arms too fast. I was given ankle and wrist weights to practice with, which got me in the habit of moving slower, more like a woman of "considerably advanced years."

The whole cast was very excited for the play to open. We were all very excited to have an audience to laugh at all our jokes, instead of just our crew and directors. However, we were very surprised by how different our audiences reacted to the jokes in the show, compared to our director, cast, and crew. We found that many of the things we found hilarious, went completely over the audience's head, and many of the things that we didn't react to, triggered a major reaction from the audience. And of course we had to adjust our performance to accommodate these changes. We would have to pause for laughter in places we hadn't expected, and push on in places where we expected laughter and didn't receive any. We also noticed that the audiences started off super quiet. We could see them smiling and enjoying themselves, but they didn't open up and react verbally until close to the second act. This is a challenge with having smaller audiences, since people don't wanna draw attention to themselves by laughing and it takes them time to get comfortable.

One thing that I learned about myself during the performance process is that I get less nervous with colder audiences. I get more nervous when people laugh a lot because I have a hard time holding in my laughter and keeping a stern face. However, when people don't laugh, I naturally feel awkward and upset, because then it feels like I'm not doing my job well enough, which is really frustrating. This somehow makes me less nervous, for reasons I can't explain.

My favorite part in the show is when Algernon shows up at John's house in the country, pretending to be his brother Earnest. This part is so funny to me because Algernon and John are forced to pretend that Algernon is actually Earnest in order to keep their secrets from Cecily. I also love this part because we get to see Cecily interact with her uncle John. When she is with her uncle, Cecily acts in a more childish manner, which really highlights their close relationship with each other and how protective John is of his ward, which is really sweet.

All in all, the run of Earnest has been going extremely well. All of our audiences have reacted positively to the show, even if it took them a little while to warm up and feel comfortable enough to laugh out loud. It has been such an honor to work on this show and play the part of Lady Bracknell. This role has really challenged me as an actor and has helped me to grow immensely in my craft. From developing this character, I have developed more confidence in my acting and abilities to portray vastly different characters of all ages. This will help me to audition for and develop characters in future pieces with more confidence in my abilities and experience under my belt.