A HANDBAG is normally a cause of laughter and even applause in The Importance Of Being Earnest, but the ripple effect of last Friday night's terrorist attacks in Paris could be felt in a York theatre this week.
Security staff have been installed at the entrances to the Grand Opera House to check bags, the importance of vigilance being understood by all who were gathering for Oscar Wilde's "trivial comedy for serious people".
No further connection needs to be made, but this security measure was a jolting reminder of the world beyond the boards and greasepaint, beyond theatreland's warm cocoon that allows us to escape from the 9 to 5 daily grind.
Wilde's comedy of manners has long been a staple of such pleasures and here it comes again, but not quite as you know it, in the hands of the Bunbury Company of Players, old hands all, who have made a habit of staging it every few years.
So much so that the principals are all 30 years too old for their parts. That is sort of the joke here, where 'Importance' becomes a play within a play, wherein the Bunbury amateurs are mounting their dress rehearsal at the home of Lavinia Spelman (Sian Phillips), the company's perennial Lady Bracknell.
Martin Jarvis's Anthony Scottney is the director and leading player as John Worthing JP; Nigel Havers is the company playboy, Richard 'Dicky' Olfield, playing Algernon Moncrieff. Lavinia's husband George (Nigel Anthony) is more interested in the Test Match on the TV than stepping into the shoes of Lane, the manservant and Merriman, the butler.
Simon Brett's new framing structure has echoes of Michael Frayn's Noises Off and Alan Ayckbourn's A Chorus Of Disapproval, but with one difference. Whereas mayhem consumes everything in those plays, as life off stage seeps on stage, Wilde's comedy seamlessly takes over from the slightly clunky prologue. Albeit with a continuing nod and a wink to our awareness of the contrivance and of the gap between the ages in Wilde's text and those of the cast members. The running gag involving too many/not enough cucumber sandwiches is particularly delicious.
Nigel Havers and Martin Jarvis in The Importance Of Being Earnest
Jarvis and Havers have a familiar chemistry carried over and expanded from first playing their roles in 1982 and remind you that men are wont to remain boyishlyly naughty forever; Sian Phillips is everything you could wish from a grandstanding Lady Bracknell, with that fabulous voice in all its glory.
You either can be amusing on stage or you can't, and in a world where women's roles dry up far too quickly, it is a delight to watch Christine Cavanagh's Cecily Cardew and Carmen du Sautoy's Gwendolen Fairfaxs pat over afternoon tea with such panache. Lucy Bailey's direction is at its wittiest in this scene, where bad behaviour masked by the politest of manners is Wildely entertaining.
William Dudley's costume designs are probably too good for an amateur company, but they add to the joy of a zestful production that may be less sophisticated than Wilde at its best but is knowingly amusing and never earnest.
The Importance Of Being Earnest, The Bunbury Company of Players, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday. Performances: 2.30pm and 7.30pm, today; 7.30pm, tomorrow; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york
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