Voice Theatre to perform “The Importance of Being Earnest” in Kingston July 11-28 – Daily Freeman

From left: Josh Bierman as Jack Worthing rehearses a scene with Griffin Stenger as the Reverend. Chasuble as Stephanie Seward, who plays Miss Prism, looks on during a recent rehearsal of the Voice Theatre’s production of Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.” (Photo provided)

KINGSTON, NY — “I think we all need something to laugh about sometimes,” says Shauna Kanter, director of the Voice Theatre production of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” running Thursday, July 11, through Sunday, July 28, at Bethany Hall of the Old Dutch Church, 272 Wall St.

Kanter said the professional theater company chose the classic not only for its nonstop laughs, but also because it remains relevant nearly 130 years after Oscar Wilde wrote it in 1895 with the intention of denouncing the hypocrisy of Victorian society and the privileged class.

“It was a very revolutionary thing,” Kanter said, adding that Wilde even showed her butt to the audience at the premiere, causing quite a stir.

More recently, the play has become a classic and standard in high school productions, Kanter said. “When I went to the store owners to put up posters, they would say, ‘I was in that play,'” she added.

But Kanter and Voice Theatre have put a new twist on this familiar story, setting the action in London in 1968. She added that this decision was made in no small part because of the history of nearby Woodstock as a home for artists who defied the status quo.

Gone are the days of long dresses and corsets, instead mini dresses and paisley shirts are in, accompanied by an energetic rock soundtrack with the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix.

“It’s just freer than the Victorian era,” she said. “People can identify with something that’s not quite so far removed from our time.”

She said this required only very minor changes to the actual dialogue, such as changing a line so that one character tells another character to “wait in the car” instead of “wait in the train car.”

But although Kanter changed the setting, she did not change the way the play confronts the privileged class.

“Oscar Wilde said that just because someone has money doesn’t mean they’re intelligent or have any value as a human being,” Kanter said. “The revolution in the 1960s said that too.”

People can become celebrities just because they have money, she said, citing former President and 2024 Republican candidate Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian as examples.

There is no shortage of weirdness in the play, Kanter said, both because of the “fictional characters” who turn out to be real people and because of mistaken identities.

“There are all kinds of twists and triangles,” she said. “The characters take things seriously that are actually ridiculous.”

She cited the example of the protagonist Jack Worthing, who was left as a baby in a handbag at Victoria Station in London and was given his surname because the person who picked him up was travelling to the holiday resort on a first-class ticket.

“They just took him away instead of going to the police,” she said.

The eight-person cast consists of a mix of local professional actors and Equity actors from New York City, she said.

According to Kanter, Voice Theatre has transformed the historic church’s Bethany Hall into a cozy, air-conditioned theater with 48 seats, full lighting and platforms for the audience. The action takes place on an existing stage in the space.

“Seats are very limited,” she said, “so get your tickets.”

Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. An additional Saturday matinee is planned for July 27.

Adult tickets are $28 for Thursday performances and $30 for weekend performances. Senior and student tickets are $22 for all performances. Tickets can be purchased at https://voicetheatre.org/earnesttickets/.