Review: IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST at Castle Craig Players

During the pandemic, I have greatly missed the consistent high quality live performances from the Castle Craig Players. I am looking forward to when they will be able to perform live, again, which I hope will be very soon. In the meantime, I am happy to say that now, online, the Castle Craig Players have performed, recorded, and edited a production for viewing on YouTube. IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST by Oscar Wilde is a British comedy, excellently performed by a talented cast of actors and actresses who are very consistent with their believable British accents. Ian Galligan and Oliver Kochol have done a wonderful job as directors in this new format of production.

Green screens were used with digital backgrounds created by Martin Scott Marchitto, while musical sound effects have been added. Social distance was maintained, and I am happy to say that the performance was not hindered by masks. It was clear that a tremendous amount of effort and dedication was shown by all involved. The cast of Griffin Kulp, Jim Kane, Lisa DeAngelis, Katie Kirtland, Pam Amodio, Lori Holm, Ed Rosenblatt, Len Fredericks, and Oliver Kochol brought this show to life online, with excellent performances all around.

The story revolves around two men Jack (Griffin Kulp) and Algernon (Jim Kane) both of whom are likeable characters, despite earnestness being neither of their forté. Both of them claim that their names are Ernest, and become engaged to Gwendolen (Lisa DeAngelis) and Cecily (Katie Kirtland) respectively, both ladies under the false impression that their fiancés were named Ernest, and both rejecting their fiances' real names when presented to them hypothetically. The two ladies meet up with each other. In the course of their conversation, they both claim to be engaged to Ernest and assume that the same man had proposed to both of them. Rather than reacting with anger towards the man, they instead dismiss the validity of the sincerity of each others' claims.

Will there be a socially distanced cat fight? Will the confusion be cleared up? Will the resolution potentially lead to children with eleven toes? Check out the video to find out! It is free, but donations to the Castle Craig Players are greatly appreciated. It shall be online indefinitely. You can find the links for the show and for donations on the Castle Craig Players website at http://www.castlecraig.org/.

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