lyttelton theatre At the national Theatre
Doctor Who’s Ncuti Gatwa and Sharon D Clarke impress
Director Max Webster has taken Oscar Wilde’s familiar text by the scruff of the neck (or maybe some other part of the anatomy) and overlaid it with a panto style gay party. Many critics loved it, some had reservations, but all agreed on the quality of the acting by Ncuti Gatwa, Hugh Skinner and Sharon D Clarke, and the bright set and costumes by Rae Smith.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Most enthusiastic was Marianka Swain for LondonTheatre (5★): ‘Max Webster’s revival isn’t just vibrant, joyous and triumphantly queer, it’s also a thoughtful reclamation of a play that has become far too cosy, matching Wilde’s subversive spirit in every bold creative choice.’ About the stars, she said, ‘Gatwa wonderfully reinvigorates familiar lines with his breezy spontaneity and flirtatious charisma, while Hugh Skinner, who sports a bouffant hairdo and elaborate moustache, turns the staid character of Jack/Ernest into a hilarious indignant fop’ and ‘Clarke gives her Lady Bracknell an understated but utterly devastating disdain.’ She ended, ‘This is where you’ll find pure magic theatre this Christmas.’
The Times‘ Clive Davis (4★) advised, ‘Think of it as adult panto. Max Webster’s bold and brash reboot of Oscar Wilde’s comedy rattles along with the help of oodles of camp and performances which, apart from Sharon D Clarke’s Jamaican-accented Lady Bracknell, are all nudge-nudge, wink-wink.’ He cautioned, ‘the hilarity becomes a tad gruelling…you wonder if the director is throwing everything at the audience and hoping for the best. When it works, though, it’s a joy.’
The Guardian‘s Arifa Akbar (4★) was a fan: ‘there is an elegance to the nudge-wink references and it is a production with just the right amount of delightful mischief….The pace never becoming hectic, the physical comedy steers clear of farce and lines are crisply delivered without hamming up.’ She enjoyed the performances of the leads: ‘The current Doctor Who Gatwa brings arch shades of his character in Sex Education to the part while Skinner excels in balancing emotional vulnerability with archness and physical humour…Perhaps best of all, Sharon D Clarke’s Lady Bracknell is an exquisitely dressed battle-axe’.
Alice Saville in The Independent (4★) was delighted with the production: ‘director Max Webster’s bold, brash and beautifully cast production blows away every trace of wink-wink nudge-nudge subtlety from this classic’. Howver she noted, ‘when you turn the subtext into text, you’re left with nothing below the surface, and sometimes proceedings here slip into the territory of an especially brainless panto.’ She concluded, ‘What lingers here are the images, more than the words – perhaps because Wilde’s famous aphorisms sound especially glib when delivered with vigour, rather than their more usual laconic detachment.’ She liked the stars: ‘Ncuti Gatwa plays a gorgeously flamboyant Algernon who peacocks in silk corsets and ruffled negligees between scenes. And Sharon D Clarke shines as his formidable aunt Lady Bracknell’.
Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowksi (4★) decided, ‘if the leads are written as subtextually queer, then Webster’s approach is essentially to crank up the subtext to 11 and not worry about every aspect of internal logic so long as we’re having a good time.’ About the actors, he said, ‘Gatwa is supremely enjoyable as agent of chaos Algy, but it’s full of standout turns: I loved the great Sharon D Clarke as a twinkly, pragmatic Caribbean-accented Lady Bracknell and (Eliza) Scanlen as a somewhat feral Cecily.’
The Standard’s Nick Curtis (4) talked about ‘Max Webster’s fizzing, knockabout production’ that ‘tips the text’s implicit gayness into a heavier display of sexual fluidity.’ He explained ‘I loved it because it honours Wilde’s wit but also his radicalism and his embrace of artifice.’ He said Ncuti Gatwa is ‘charming and charismatic as the preening sybarite, tossing off witticisms as if they’re going out of fashion.’
Fiona Mountford in the i (4★) reassured, ‘None of this re-interpretation is laid on too thickly.’ She said, ‘The sparkling artificiality of Wilde’s confection is playfully emphasised’ and concluded with the conclusion of the evening, ‘The curtain call is a riot of flamboyant costumes, more glittery and colourful than any pantomime. This is a big success, oh yes it is.’
Dominic Cavendish in the Telegraph (3★) thought ‘There’s some straining after laughter, albeit it is often obtained.’ He declared, ‘the main plaudits should go to Sharon D Clarke’s sedate, imperious, fabulously attired Lady Bracknell’.
Sarah Crompton in Whats On Stage (3★) had reservations: ‘It’s panto season at the National Theatre. Max Webster’s production of Oscar Wilde’s most famous play is colourful, cross-dressing, brash and often very funny. The trouble is that the importance of its author sometimes vanishes in the mayhem…. The text seems less important than accommodating the next bum joke, or a slip on some fake grass…Wilde should seem effortless but here there’s a terrible sense of trying hard’. Sharon D Clarke, she said, ‘is utterly wonderful, turning the character into a disdainfully magnificent matriarch, contempt for the world and its imperfections dripping from every line.’
Sam Marlowe in The Stage (3) put aside her reservations: ‘there’s so much fizz and sparkle in the staging, and such charm, cheek and flair from the cast, that we’re consistently tickled and ultimately won over.’
Critics’ Average Rating 3.8★
Value Rating 48 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price)
The Importance of Being Earnest is at the National Theatre until 25 January 2025. Tickets from nationaltheatre.org.uk
Read Paul Seven Lewis’ less than enthusiastic review here
If you’ve seen The Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre, please add your review and rating below