This is Camptastic!
Before the stage curtain went up it was held together by the legendary handbag – A stroke of genius. After that, however, traditionalists may want to watch much of Max Webster’s production of Wilde’s classic through their fingers, as its original sugar-coated, slightly homoerotic frolic now has Camp written all the way through it, writes Michael Holland.
We open with a spot-lit Olly Alexander (Algernon) randomly posing atop a shiny black piano in a very frothy and frilly outfit that his silhouetted minions in black tie and tails slowly peel off.
While I and several others recover from shock he then appears fully-clothed in his London townhouse with Jack (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), discussing their alter-egos: Algernon, a cross-dressing gadabout, becomes Bunbury to amuse himself in the country, while countryman Jack turns himself out as Earnest, the visiting man about London town who has desires for Gwendolen Fairfax (Kitty Hawthorne), whose mother, Lady Bracknell (Stephen Fry) is very careful about who her daughter marries. So when mother and daughter arrive to visit her nephew Algy and she sees Jack and Gwendolen making eyes at each other, she pulls out her checklist for potential son-in-laws. He does not pass the test as he is not Lady B’s list of marriageable men.
Of course, the farce kicks in later when Algy turns up uninvited at Jack’s country pile and tells Jack’s young ward Cecily Cardew (Jessica Whitehurst) he is Jack’s never-seen before brother Earnest, before they very quickly fall in love. All is looking good until Gwendolen appears and recognises Earnest as Algy, who will reveal the lies of Jack, and then I was as confused as I possibly could be. Thank Christ for Canon Chasuble (Hugh Dennis) emerging to continue his celibate yearning for the man-hungry Miss Prism (Shobna Gulati), Miss Cardew’s tutor.
And while all this is going on, Hayley Carmichael as the butler Lane, in town, and Merriman, in a similar role in the country, fumbles about like an inebriated Julie Walters in Mrs Overall’s Two Soups mode, garnering laughs aplenty.
The plot now moves on to both men being christened Earnest by Canon Chasuble in order not to lie to their fiancées at the altar, as well as expose their individual deviousness… What fun when the confusion comes to a head!
Stephen Fry as Lady Bracknell has all the best lines and delivers them well – Her first scene with Algernon and Jack is one of the great scenes in theatre and loses none of its esteem here in the hands of Fry.
But my favourite performance was from Kitty Hawthorne as Gwendolen. According to the programme a relative newcomer, though this experience will serve her very well. Her part in the beautifully bitchy tea and cake scene with Jessica Whitehurst was exceptional.
In fact, almost every line in the script is perfect. And as much as this production is loyal to Wilde’s intentions it also takes liberties. There are comedic inklings of Gwendolen and Cecily becoming more than friends, and Algy and Jack have a hand-in-hand frolic among the flowers, but the irrelevant, out and out drag race finale closes the case for the prosecution – This is Camptastic and there is no hiding from it. We can’t go on watching the same old Importance of Being Earnest for another 130 years, so bravo for Max Webster making eye-popping changes.
Oscar Wilde’s anarchic satire against the mores of the Victorian upper classes is now our comedy. Yes, the conservative will look aghast at such outlandish impudence at its treatment here but the majority will have to say this is a lot of fun.
Noël Coward Theatre, St Martin’s Lane, London, WC2N 4AU until January 10th 2026.
Booking and full details: https://www.noelcowardtheatre.co.uk/
