29th May A very Earnest review


It's not often I start a blog by saying that it was one of the best nights out we have had in absolutly ages, but both TOM and I would be in agreement over last nights little jolly to the theatre in Derby to see The Importance of Being Earnest, performed by the Say it again, sorry?' again theatre company. 

This was not just the usual performance of the Oscar Wilde farce but rather a farce about a farce, one in which the lead actor due to play the role of Ernest Worthing fails to turns up for the performance resulting in the quick need for a stand in. From the audience. For the entire play!  

 A little bit like The Play That Goes Wrong productions, this one relied on the wonderful timing of the 'actors' and the enthusiasm of those selected from the unwitting audience.

Step forward Kalil a member of the audience of Indian heritage(?) who worked as a patents attorney. Initially bemused by what he was expected to do, and I suspect only thinking he would be on the stage for a few minutes, he threw himself wholeheartedly into a real laugh out loud performance, one made all the funnier by his complete lack of knowledge about the actual play.

By the end of the 2 hr performance, none of the original cast members were playing their initial roles having been replaced by 7 difference audience members including a fabulous Lady Bracknell, complete with her  (of in this case a bearded his) exclamation of 'Handbag!'

Anyone expecting an accurate performance of the Wilde classic would have been disappointed but for those open to a really bonkers night of improvised slap stick farce, they were in for a real treat. We both loved it.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

6th May Olbia

Image
  A chance to stretch our legs today with our first port of call; Olbia, Sardinia. And it was a quick stretch too due to it being only a five hour stay. Up bright and early, so early in fact that the hot food at the buffet wasn't even ready to be served. Still it gave us a chance to watch the ship glide into port past a host of oyster/mussel beds, before performing a 180 degree turn to reverse into it's berth. A couple of short bus rides later and we were in downtown Olbia. But there an hour or so before anything appeared to open, the disadvantage of being early birds and something we don't seem to learn! Not that Olbia had a great deal to see or maybe if we had done the slightest bit of planning beforehand there might have benn but we didn't. It was pleasant enough but that's about it. It was pleasant enough but nothing special, indeed we were back on the ship after just a couple of hours ashore and then managed to sleep away most of th...
Read more

7th May Naples

Image
 I'm sure I've heard the phrase 'see Naples and die' suggesting that it is perhaps not the nicest location in the Mediterranean but if it's good enough for Diego Maradona fir a few years then it's good enough for me for 10 hours. Although the millions of tax free pounds he was paid might have eased his stay. By the time we got up, washed, dressed and up to The Kitchens, the rest of the ship were already there. Compared to the Marie Celeste of yesterday it was absolutely packed, presumably with people having breakfast before heading out on 8am excursions, our excursion was simply going to be the city of Naples itself as possible trips to Vesuvius, Pompei or the Amalfi coast would have been too much / tired.  So on a day when the weather initially seemed uncertain, we jumped aboard route A for the Hop on Hop off bus and headed out into the mayhem that is the Napoli traffic where it was every van, car and scooter for the selves. I think it's bes...
Read more