INTERVIEW: David Suchet in West End THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, Plays U.S. Cinemas November 3rd For One Night Only

"I've never done this play before but I must have seen it, without exaggeration, from 47 years of being an actor, at least 10 or 15 times. When I'm in theatre companies they always do it."

The play in question is Oscar Wilde's uproarious The Importance of Being Earnest, considered by many to be among the greatest comedies of the English language.

David Suchet, one of Britain's most respected actors of stage, screen and television, certainly agrees.

"It has the most exquisite construction and is the most wonderful comedy/farce/satire that we have."

Suchet, best known around the world as Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, in the hit U.K. TV series POIROT, has been starring since June as a very different kind of character, the haughty and proper Lady Bracknell in the West End's 120th Anniversary production of Wilde's classic.

For one night only, Tuesday, November 3rd, American audiences will get to see Suchet in director Adrian Noble's acclaimed production without hopping a flight to London, as Fathom Events presents The Importance of Being Earnest as taped at a live performance on the stage of the Vaudeville Theatre. At 7pm local time, movie theatres around the country will screen the same performance that was broadcast live on October 8th in cinemas throughout the U.K., Ireland and selected European countries.

Philip Cumbus plays the adorable dandy Algernon Moncrieff with Michael Benz as his pal, the utterly reliable John Worthing. The boys lead double lives to court the attentions of the exquisitely desirable Gwendolyn Fairfax (Emily Barber) and Cecily Cardew (Imogen Doel), but complications force them to grapple with the riotous consequences of their deceptions, and with Suchet's formidable Lady Bracknell.

"I never thought of playing this role before," says Suchet. "I was looking for a comedy role and a producer with whom I've worked on many plays before said to me, 'I think I've got the role for you.'"

While Suchet is the first male to play the role on the West End, he was aware of two very successful turns as Bracknell by male colleagues.

"I was very nervous about playing Lady Bracknell because Brian Bedford has done it in Canada and on Broadway and Geoffrey Rush had just done it in Australia as well."

"I've taken the role very seriously, from that perspective. The great trap I think you'll find if you speak to the other male actors who have played the role, is that you're absolutely frightened of it becoming panto or a joke figure with everyone never losing sight that you're a man. I wanted to play her absolutely as she is written, as believable as I could be, not only as a woman but as the satirical portrayal that Wilde endeavored to put on the stage."

Aside from adjusting his voice and learning how to walk in a dress with a train, Suchet took deportment classes to learn exactly how a proper lady of her time and class would carry herself.

Though British audiences have been enjoying the play for over a century and no doubt many audience members are familiar with the most famous of Wilde's many quotable lines, the actor insists that you cannot approach the play with the intention of doing something new with it.

"That's a trap. Once you go into a piece with the purpose of doing something different you're heading into dangerous waters. What you do is bring yourself and your own understanding and your own study of the role and the play, as does the director. In this case the director wanted a very traditional production and by following the punctuation and the meaning of each scene we found our own energy in it."

"We have the most fantastic quartet of young actors to play the two couples, and they have brought their own sense of modernity to the production which has been received extremely positively as a breath of fresh air and a modern interpretation. It was never intended, but that is what we bring to it, and that's the only way one can approach a piece of work."

No changes were made for the performance that was broadcast live on the 8th and there was no editing done afterwards.

"The pressure was incredibly high to make sure that verbally you didn't muck up any lines and that you are giving the best rendition of the play, knowing that it is a public performance that's being recorded and will therefore be held up as the play that was on the West End in 2015 and people will be able to see it in perpetuity."

Suchet plans to take some time off after the production closes on November 7th.

"I've just turned down my fourth theatre for next year. I've just become a grandfather and I haven't had a proper break for two years so I'm looking forward to a break from theatre. I'm trying to slow down a little bit next year and enjoy my grandchild."

Click here for information on The Importance of Being Earnest, live at the Vaudeville Theatre and in movie theatres across the U.S. on November 3rd.