“The Importance of Being Earnest” @ The Hammer Theater Review

“The Importance of Being Earnest” @ The Hammer Theater by Maya Foley

A show about double-lives, simplistic yet effective hijinks, and a respectful flair of the source material while still having a modern touch. That is the best way I can describe the Hammer Theater’s February 19th showing of Oscar Wilde’s classic, The Importance of Being Earnest, specifically a professionally filmed version of the 2024 November revival starring Ncuti Gatwa and Hugh Skinner.

Now, I’m not a huge theater person, and I wasn’t familiar with the comedy, so this was a fresh experience for me. However, even with that, I was looking forward to the show, mostly because of the tone, as I enjoy comedies, and I’ve seen recordings of stage performances before, such as the 25th anniversary recording of The Phantom of the Opera from 2011.

As the intro would suggest, the show itself was a lot of fun to watch. Not only does it have a lot of fun with its comedy in the visuals and dialogue, but it also takes itself less seriously and simply rolls with the ridiculousness of the situation and the consequences of the actions done by Earnest and especially Algernon. This is especially helped by the performances themselves, where the actors play their roles in a way that’s both charming and convincingly fitting for their respective personalities to really amp up the comedy to help it land even more, especially Gatwa as Algernon, with his personality and comedic execution reminding me a bit of Kuzco in The Emperor’s New Groove. One thing I’m impressed the show did well was stay respectful to the source material by remaining a 19th-century-originated comedy, while still incorporating modernizations in terms of casting that resulted in costuming that incorporates different cultures and some of the bits of music used for jokes.

The recording of the show, to me, works really well as they not only provide a sizable number of camera shots to capture the visual jokes most effectively, but also the best-looking view of the actors’ performances. Similar to a movie, you want to have your shots be intentional and your cuts in different angles or perspectives to make the story feel smooth and flow naturally, and as far as I’m concerned, the show does it well, as recordings for a live show should do, especially if it’s for folks who’ve never seen the show or aren’t able to see it in person. This is why I find live show performances filmed and presented as a movie so interesting and a little underappreciated, as they allow audiences to experience a show, sometimes even a specific show, that isn’t easily accessible for them. Just look at Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, the 25th anniversary concert of The Phantom of the Opera, SpongeBob SquarePants: the Musical, or any of the live shows and events for Critical Role, and some of those were able to be shown in movie theaters.

Outside of the recording itself, the theater’s atmosphere was nice for my viewing due to it not being really crowded, about 30 people at most, which allowed me to have room to relax in my seat right around the middle of the theater and not feel overwhelmed. That and the people being able to laugh at a comfortable volume for the show allowed me to enjoy the show more. One thing I do lowkey wish the theater did with the recording was having the lighting sync with the lights going down when the show in the recording starts to give a sense of immersion, but that’s wishful thinking on my end.

Overall, I had a nice time with this. Even with my limited knowledge or experience with theater performances and the show itself, I was able to laugh, get invested in the story, and relax in the decently quiet but still occupied theater. If there is a show at the Hammer Theater in the future that catches my interest, I’ll be happy to do something like this again!