All Male Version of 'The Importance of Being Earnest'.html | |
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This article, published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is a review written by Sharon Eberson that describes an all- male play put on by the Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre. Eberson states that the director Conall Morrison imagined putting together a production of what Oscar Wilde truly felt the play was about. Morrison toyed with “the idea that ‘Earnest,’ a searing satire of the Victorian upper crust, became Wilde’s enduring success because it contained so much of the playwright himself.” The director felt that the play only came alive when you feel the heartbeat of his personality and when he does comedy. This was when Morrison hand chose the actors he felt would play the part. He knew that choosing an all-male cast was not a giant leap, since there is a theatrical tradition of actors in drag as Lady Bracknell. Even the title ‘Earnest’ is a play on words as ‘earnest’ was Victorian slang for gay. Eberson points out that the play had its opening night a feud broke due to an an affair between Wilde and an aristocrat’s married son. They play did continue regardless of what was going on.