STAGE REVIEWS : La Habra Theatre Production Not Only ‘Earnest,’ but Wilde

La Habra Community Theatre’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” is thick with wide-eyed mugging and twitty English accents. A comedy of manners? This is more like a cartoon of manners.

The ruination of a classic? Nah, just a playful approach to arguably the wittiest work by one of the wittiest writers ever to come out of Britain--Oscar Wilde.

Along their campy way, directors Jensen Crawford and Terry Hanrahan remain faithful to Wilde’s clever audacity. The epigram-rich dialogue is always emphasized, as are Wilde’s slaps at British society in all its pretentious glory.

There aren’t many more pretentious than Algernon and Jack. Both live double lives: Jack, a country squire, has invented a disreputable brother named “Earnest,” whom he “visits” in town. Algernon, Jack’s city pal, has created a sick friend, whom he regularly “visits” in the country.

Both fellows use the deceptions to escape their responsibilities until the real and imaginary worlds collide, generating comic confusion and giving Wilde the opportunity to dig in his claws.

Of the two poseurs , Algernon (Steven Myles) is the most flagrant no-account, pandering to his ostentatiously upper-crust aunt (Diana Lyn Hendricks) while planning his own mischief. Jack (Peter Stone) is softer; he even feels a bit guilty over all the posing.

It all gets sticky when Jack falls for the puckered Gwendolyn (Beverly Turner), who just happens to think he is “Earnest.” How does he tell her that he doesn’t even have a brother? And what about his pretty ward, Cecily (Patricia Delaunay), waiting for him back home?

The way the actors play it makes the action look as if it is filtered through a wide-angle lens. Not much subtlety here, but bunches of exaggerated gestures and drawn-out syllables. Nobody does it better than the eye-rolling Turner.

Even with these shenanigans, this “Earnest” is able to reflect Wilde’s natural stylishness, with much of the credit going to Mark Laskowski’s handsome sets and Dave Temple’s impeccable costumes.

‘THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST’

A La Habra Community Theatre production of Oscar Wilde’s 1895 comedy. Directed by Jensen Crawford and Terry Hanrahan. With Steven Myles, Peter Stone, Morkus Ehlers, Diana Lyn Hendricks, Beverly Turner, Patricia Delaunay, Ruth Siegall and Dave Schmidt. Sets by Mark Laskowski. Costumes by Dave Temple. Lighting by Eugene MacDonald. Plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through June 25 at the Depot Playhouse, 311 S. Euclid St., La Habra. Tickets: $6 to $8. (213) 905-9708.