Plays are not meant to be read in your own head. I think you can still enjoy a play when it is not read out loud, but it loses something. Last night the amazing cast had its first read through of The Important Of Being Earnest and it just reminded me that this show is really funny....still! 119 years after its first production and most of this show still plays very well. It's not perfect, there are jokes that go over the head of all but the most antiquated thinkers, but generally speaking; It really hold up. Any worries I might have had about the language coming out stilted or stuffy were shattered as I engaged in the witty banter of Wilde's, arguably, greatest work. Our cast was informed from the start that pacing was everything and they brought the pacing. Lines that many of us had never read, let alone said out loud, fired back and forth with surprising agility. I was proud in a bizarrely paternal manner. My fellow castmates "get" this show. And because they get it, it sounds fun and easy and accessible. If this is where we are starting, I can't wait to see where we go.
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Aaron Sarka's
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