The Importance of being earnest - Earnestly shabby!

When I was done watching Evam attempt Oscar Wilde's Importance of being earnest, I was infuriated. yes, that is the word and no, I am not exaggerating. There was an evident paucity of quality, be it in the acting department, the set changes or even the dance choreography. The only thing that one could take away from the evening was the script.

And this, when Evam is trying to win people over to vote for them as the hottest start up. Sigh.

I won't bother telling you about the story line- its hilarious- google it. What i do want to tell you of course, is about how pathetically the play was executed. It was miserable my friends. Avoid it if its coming to your city. shut yourself in your house and stay indoors lest a friend tempts you to go for it.

Jack/Earnest was played by Karthik, not Kumar, the other not so flamboyant guy. I remember watching him in the Odd Couple as Felix, where i thought he was pretty good. But they guy can not handle a script like this one. He was struggling, so badly that i felt sorry for him. It was a bad start.

Karthik Kumar I hear is a good film actor, but he needs to start being his characters more than himself on stage. Its about time.

I was disappointed to not see Sunil on stage. I think he is the "earnest" of them all.I think he would have taken the script more seriously.

But the crown for the worst performance of the evening has to go to the lady who played cicily (if thats how its spelt). Oh Boy! I don't want to be too hard on her, because this may be her first play, but man was she bad.

But behold! here's is what got to me the most.

Evam has a million volunteers, yet their set change was so incredibly badly planned that I was pulling my hair out by the end of it. Clearly there was no production manager, or if there was one, he was taking a stroll somewhere (probably avoiding the play). These guys took close to five minutes to get two tables on stage. And then spent another five just adjusting it. shameful ! Once again Evam, pull up your socks.

and so the first act came to a close. the other women actors were decent. There was a british lady who was obviously not troubled by the style of the narrative. She did fine.

i tell you what. there was a butler who kept coming in and out. he was probably the best male actor on stage. he was probably the only one in character (or some form of it). The Doctor was bearable although his movement on stage (especially the shuffling) seemed amateurish.

But I must save the last for the director. Manasi, it was a bad bad evening. I am sorry. You seem very young and can also be passed of as cute, but what was on stage was sad. But i wish you well, i really do.

There you have it. If you are an ardent Evam fan you are probably not going to like it, but i have tried to stay as un-biased as possible. Go for it at your own peril.