WITH love in the air as Valentine's Day approaches a Derby Theatre company is planning to add to the romantic atmosphere with its latest show.

Oscar Wilde's celebrated play The Importance of Being Earnest has dazzled audiences with its wit for more than a century but Big Adventures are determined to bring out the romance in their production being staged this week.

Dave Culling, who plays "Ernest" Worthing, says: "We had just done Richard III so we didn't want to do another Shakespeare and after that production we were looking for something lighter this time; a bit of fun. And because it was going to be around Valentine's Day we also wanted something romantic.

"This gave us the chance to dress up in Edwardian costumes and do something entertaining.

"Quite often productions of The Importance of Being Earnest concentrate on the wit and word play of Oscar Wilde and everyone remembers Lady Bracknell and the 'handbag' line. But we want to play up the romantic elements.

"We haven't cut it much but, like Shakespeare, some is dated and doesn't work.

"The danger is that people just come along to hear the quotation. Oscar Wilde said of Shakespeare that people go to see Hamlet to hear 'To be or not to be'.

"So we wanted to get it back to the essence of the story, the romantic level. It's a bit of a romp, light and frivolous but with a heart to it as well.

"We don't want to disappoint people with the great lines but we are trying not to make a meal of them. That's the line we are trying to walk."

First performed in 1895, the play Wilde described as "a trivial comedy for serious people' tells the story of Mr Worthing, who is Jack in the country and Ernest in town. His best friend is Algernon in town and Ernest in the country. Cecily loves Ernest, but doesn't know he's Algernon. Gwendolen loves Ernest but doesn't know he's Jack.

It will all take a lot of sorting out and it's up to Caroline Reader to make sure it all adds up as she is directing the play.

"Caroline is expecting a baby in April so it's her last foray into directing before that," says Dave.

Caroline staged a Big Adventures show last summer for 10-18 year olds.

Following the success of that show, Zorro, the company are now planning to launch a Youth Theatre based at Robert Ludlam starting with auditions in September.

It will help plug the gap left by Derby Live Youth Theatre, which ends in April after the arts organisation lost its contract with Derby Theatre.

Big Adventures are ideally placed to step into the breach thanks to their education work which has included looking after a previous Derby Live Youth Theatre production – Nicholas Nickleby. The first youth production will be the musical West Side Story.

Dave says: "Hopefully it will fill a few of the gaps. Zorro launched the idea and it was very successful and lots of kids came so it seemed worth doing. We loved doing Nicholas Nickleby so it seemed a good option for us to step in when Derby Live stops."

 

WHAT: The Importance of Being Earnest

WHERE: The Robert Ludlam Theatre, St Benedict School, Derby

WHEN: February 15-18, 7.30pm nightly

TICKETS: £9 (£7 concessions)

BOX OFFICE: 01332 541662