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THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. By Oscar Wilde. Directed by Charles Newell. The Court Theatre, Chicago. 4 December 2004.
TRAVESTIES. By Tom Stoppard. Directed by Charles Newell. The Court Theatre, Chicago. 26 March 2005.
Pairing The Importance of Being Earnest and Travesties tantalizes the literate theatergoer and theatre artist alike. Part of the pleasure of Stoppard's travesty of Great War literary, artistic, and political history stems from the explosive absurdity of Wildean paradox and wit in the text. Then there's The Importance of Being Earnest itself: to return to this sublime confection and its play of surface and depth, not to mention its exuberance, makes contemporary comedy seem not only dreary, but without philosophy. Last season Charles Newell, Artistic Director of Chicago's classics-focused Court Theatre, paired a tenth-anniversary revival of his famously successful 1995 Traivstics with a new staging of Earnest. Newell positioned the two productions to speak to each other, using the same cast for both shows, and staging parallel sequences in each show. The pairing revealed a great deal about the distinct forms of theatricality at work in the two plays, though as in many experiments, not all of its elements achieved equal success.
Newell's casting of the productions' main characters opened up new ways to see both plays. Lance Stuart Baker, for instance, does not conform to the usual image of a whippet-thin, silver-tongued, and suave Algernon. With his fleshy face, gravelly voice, and deep under-eye circles, Baker possesses an unsettling stage presence, bringing a youthful menace to Algernon that proved a fascinating and revealing choice. Baker's Algernon slyly commented to the audience with every move, tossing out sidelong glances, pausing slightly before delivering lines, and finding unusual and telling emphasis for words. His performance also showed Algernon deftly hanging on Cecily's every word, amazed to find himself serious about his love for her. Baker's attributes proved an even more natural fit for the role of Carr in Travesties. Algernon seemed a precursor to this character, a sense reiterated by Baker repeating blocking patterns or stage positions he had held in Earnest. With long monologues directly to the audience, Baker-as-Carr even more fully registered ironic commentary and his slyness suited the script's portrayal of Carr's self-aggrandizement.
In contrast to Baker's youthful, dark...