Director Dennis McGraw and his students have tackled some long and challenging plays over the years, including Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” But what’s up next may take the cake. The premiere performance of Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest”
Director Dennis McGraw and his students have tackled some long and challenging plays over the years, including Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.”
But what’s up next may take the cake.
The premiere performance of Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” kicks off at 7 tonight at Children of the Land in Kapaa.
McGraw said he is stressing to each of his nine cast members that they must “get every single word exactly as Wilde wrote it.”
“There are no extra words,” he said. “You can’t add any and you can’t subtract any. It’s that good.”
To prepare, McGraw has been running rehearsals “off-book” for three weeks. Usually, one is enough.
“It’s a hard play,” McGraw said.
Performances run Fridays through Sundays through Dec. 22.
“The Importance of Being Earnest,” which debuted in 1895 in London, focuses on two wealthy young bachelors, both of whom pretend to be a fictitious man called Earnest in order to win over two eligible young women, despite the ladies’ avowed preference for that name alone, according to a synopsis on Playbill Vault.
It is a “trivial comedy for serious people.”
McGraw said the play is “unbelievably witty,” and often considered the greatest comedy ever written. In fact, it is so “ridiculous and perfect,” according to McGraw, that he finds himself laughing just thinking about it.
“It’s a ridiculous case of mistaken identities that goes in about 100 different directions brilliantly and then all culminates in the end,” he said. “It’s an unbelievable play.”
Friday and Saturday performances of “The Importance of Earnest” begin at 7 p.m., while Sunday performances begin at 4 p.m.
Tickets cost $10 for adults, $8 for students, and can be purchased from cast members or at the door. For more information call Dennis McGraw at 651-2417.
Students islandwide participate in KPAC, Hawaii’s learning center program providing middle and high school students with classes in acting, playwriting, stagecraft, scene study and directing.
