Wildeans of the internet, rejoice!
Yet another adaptation of one of Oscar
Wilde's fantastic works has premièred today – The
Insignificance of Being Gwendolen.
The
vlog-styled webseries was created by a handful of people
united by their love of Wilde, to portray Wilde's theatrical
masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest,
which saw its first performance on 14 February 1895, from the point
of view of one of the secondary characters in this play.
This character is
Gwendolen – or Gwen, for short, in the project. In the original
play, Gwendolen is the daughter of the draconian Lady Augusta
Bracknell, cousin to the incorrigible Bunbury-ist Algernon Moncrieff
and love interest to the not-so-earnest Ernest (Jack in the country)
Worthing.
This
charming webseries goes accompanied by a blog, The Triviality of Being Cecily, written from the point of view of the daydreaming Cecily
Cardew, originally ward to Jack (Ernest in town) Worthing, love
interest to Algernon.
Of
course, the family relations in this multimedia project are somewhat
different, explains driving force behind the project Lisa Theresa Downey Dent, as
relationships between first cousins (as - spoilers? - Gwen and Jack/Ernest
originally turned out to be) are nowadays seen as “somewhat icky”. Cast in the role of Cecily is visual artist Danou Duifhuizen, whose background in amateur theatre has us look eagerly
forward to her appearance.
Another very much-anticipated appearance is that of Josh Sutherland, a
promising young actor who recently figured as David Tennant's body
double in the BBC's 50th
anniversary promo for Doctor Who.
Instead
of using a Victorian setting, the play has been updated to be modern,
something for which Mr Wilde appears to have given his blessing 119
years ago when he indicated the mise en temps of The
Importance to be “the
present”.
In
this updated setting, explains Lisa,
“Gwendolen
is a frustrated 20something who just wants to move out from her
parents’ place, find a hottie to date and fulfilment in life….don’t
we all? Her best friend Algernon tries to set her up with some guy in
London, called Ernest….Ernest of all names. Her therapist, Dr. Chasuble, suggests she should do a regular vlog on YouTube to let off
some steam. So she does. Since she isn’t exactly technology savvy,
she teams up with a bunch of film students who edit the footage she
sends on to them. Not always in the most flattering ways…
”.
Lisa also make it known that audience feedback is much appreciated.
So be quick and
catch Gwen's first vlog, and don't forget to leave a comment!
