As spring arrives, and the number of days remaining in the school year dwindles to the precious few, it gives students, teachers and others in the community a chance to appreciate the talents served up by the senior class roaring to the finish line.
Such is the case with Iola High School’s drama department, which soon will bid adieu to a sterling troupe of performers.
It’s perhaps fitting that their final official school production — at least as actors — is a farcical classic, “The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy For Serious People.”
Oscar Wilde’s play serves up a delicious case of hidden identities, love even before first sight and a biting satire of an aristocratic lifestyle. And it takes more than a few twists and turns along the way.
Friends Algernon and Jack, played by outgoing seniors Cole Moyer and Everett Glaze, who unbeknownst to each other follow a similar tack to avoiding the nuisances surrounding living in upper-class England.
Algernon pretends he must leave town to visit his ailing friend, Bunbery. Jack, likewise, lives in a country manor, but often is called to the city to tend to his irresponsible, black-sheep brother, Ernest.
The thing is, neither Bunbury nor Ernest actually exist. In fact, Jack assumes Ernest’s identity once he enters London. (Even Algernon had incorrectly believed Jack to be Ernest.)
A unusual engraved pocket watch forces Jack to reveal his secret to Algernon, who in turn, confides in his own duplicity.
A couple of love interests complicate things greatly.
Gwendolyn Fairfax (another talented senior in Layla Newkirk) is deeply in love with Jack. And as much as she’s smitten with his riches and charms, her true attraction is to his name. You know, “Ernest.”
But as Jack confesses his true identity, and his connection with Cecily, a young ward living with him in the country, Algernon is intrigued.
So Algernon decides to pay a visit to his friend’s country estate, pretending to be — you guessed it — “Ernest.”
There, he finds Cecily, and the attraction is instant.
It turns out that Cecily, too, after years of hearing about the fake Ernest’s antics found herself increasingly infatuated with the phantom character, so much so that she had dreamed of, and accepted, Ernest’s marriage proposal.
How long can the myriad smoke screens last? Will any of the title characters find true love?
And just how important is being earnest?
We won’t spoil it any more, but suffice it to say, a few more plot twists remain. But you’ll have to wait to find out until 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center. Tickets sell for $5, while all USD 257 students will be admitted free of charge.
