Will the Real Ernest Please Stand Up
– The following first appeared in The Floyd Press as “Theatre Guild Presents The Importance of Being Ernest” on April 2, 2015.
A Victorian comedy might sound like an oxymoron, but playwright Oscar Wilde pulled it off with The Importance of Being Ernest, and The Floyd Community Theatre Guild (FCTG) did it justice. The three act play, with the subtitle “trivial comedy for serious people,” ran for three performances at The June Bug Center over the weekend.
Under the direction of Casey Worley, the cast of experienced actors had fun with Wilde’s most popular play, where wacky premises and witty dialogue converge with aristocratic prim and proper pretense. There were a couple of marriage proposals, mistaken identities, diaries and lot of biscuits and tea consumed. Even the title of the play has a double meaning.
Period costumes and tasteful set designs added to the appeal of the play (the original of which was first performed in London in 1895). Madcap plot twists built to surprising conclusions, and Worley in the role of the formidable Lady Bracknell (played with a “Church Lady” sensibility) made the humor even 
funnier. He stepped into the role when the female actor slated to play the part had to drop out a week before the first performance.
This was the second production of FCTG. Last summer the guild presented Rick Abbot’s meta-comedy “Play On!” The Guild’s Young Actors Productions will be presenting The Almost Totally True Story of Hansel and Gretel in May with auditions taking place on April 2 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and April 3 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Their Adult Theatre Productions will begin auditioning in May for a July performance of The 39 Steps, and a December joint theatre production will present Scrooge: The Musical in December. – Colleen Redman
Post note: Actors are (left to right) Heather Simpson as Gewendolen, Sarahbeth Roberts as Cecily, Lisa Worley as Miss Prism, Starfire Ezekiel Cherrix as John Worthing, Sophie Liverman (sitting) as Algernon Moncrieff, Casey Worley as Lady Bracknell and Cameron Woodruff as Reverend Canon Chasuble. Not pictured is Alex Hicks as a manservant and butler.
