Will Self, The Evening Standard, 16th June 2005
To the Barbican to see the new production of The Importance of Being Earnest by Ridiculusmus. The company’s twist on the timeless verities of Wilde’s masterpiece is that all the parts are played, near-effortlessly, by just two male actors. When there is any effort involved it only serves to draw out what a savage indictment of the English upper classes the play is.
An Irish writer friend once remarked: “The English have a reliable appetite for hearing what shits they are.” I can’t help feeling that a large part of Wilde’s downfall was due to the fact that the English woke up to what was on the end of their forks.
Related pages:
.. The Times Literary Supplement, July 8, 2005 .. The Times London 2005