A Spirited ‘Earnest’ From a Financially Strapped Troupe : Stage: The Grove Shakespeare Festival precedes Oscar Wilde’s gem with a plea for funds. This production may be its last.

The folks at the Grove Shakespeare Festival know very well the importance of being earnest.

Before the curtain rose Friday on the Oscar Wilde play of the same name, managing director Barbara Hammerman, flanked by producing artistic director Tom Bradac, stood on the small Gem Theatre stage and made a plea for funds. Because of a cash shortfall and the City Council’s denial of a request for emergency funds, “The Importance of Being Earnest” may be the final production of the season--perhaps even the company’s final production in Garden Grove. To reinstate the Grove’s canceled Christmas show, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” $11,000 would have to be raised.

So near and yet so far.

Some of that mood of anxious brinkmanship is reflected in this Grove edition of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” which bubbles over with spirit and effusiveness, yet teeters on the edge of going just a tad too far, seeming a tad too hyper. Jules Aaron’s zesty staging has plenty of style that gets curiously derailed now and then by an unexpected wrong note or quirky faux pas.

It is exemplified by Diana Bellamy’s formidable Lady Bracknell. She takes the stage like a fortress, verbally colonizes all in her path, thrashing them roundly as if by divine mandate for whatever views they might hold. How surprising then in the midst of all that stentorian Queen’s English to find her lapsing, at the mention of lawyers Markby, Markby and Markby, into imperial Brooklynese.

It is not a major mortification in a production that moves briskly forward, but it sets a tone. One has to chuckle, particularly since the younger set, her own daughter Gwendolen included, betrays similar tendencies. Ferdinand Lewis has a gift for drop-dead timing as the elegant Jack, and Ron Campbell is a rascally pup as the mischievous Algernon, though, presumably in an effort to satisfy a reference to the curl in his hair, he has done something utterly strange to it. Friday it looked as if a pair of hummingbirds might have had a scuffle in it over the nesting rights.

Emily Heebner’s imperious Gwendolen is every inch her mother’s strong-willed daughter, while Bonita Friedericy is a little too dedicated to seeming irresistibly pert, which comes across as being quite calculatingly uncalculating. It could be disconcerting until you realize how perfectly that touch of duplicity suits Cecily and how well it will serve in her marriage to Algernon.

Armed with Wilde’s witticisms and small defiances, these four make up a merry band of verbal dart-throwers under the Bracknell tutelage. They steer the course with enough verve to overcome lesser accomplishments in the supporting roles.

The comic possibilities with which Wilde carefully endows the two model butlers are not fully exploited by Roger Christopherson as Merriman and Michael J. MacKay as Lane. Marnie Crossen puts quiver into her Miss Prism, but not much suppressed sexual excitement over the Rev. Chasuble. That may have everything to do with the fact that this Chasuble is not much of an object of excitement. Alvin Silver is thoroughly wooden as the reverend, apparently intimidated by a role in which he is seriously miscast.

Gil Morales’ airy triple setting, Martha Ferrara’s plush costuming and Rex Heuschkel’s perky lighting create an inviting context for the comedy. As usual, Chuck Estes’ original compositions smartly dress up the evening. (Gary Christensen provided the sound design.)

These are tough economic times for American theaters, which are still regarded as adornments rather than cultural anchors. “I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance,” says Lady Bracknell.

So be it.

If the Grove Shakespeare must fold its tent for a while, let it be on this clever, upbeat note.

At 12852 Main St. in Garden Grove, Wednesdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays 3 and 7:30 p.m., until Nov. 3. $16-$20; (714) 636-7213.