Stage Light

The long-forgotten subtitle Oscar Wilde attached to “The Importance of Being Earnest” is a perfect tweaking of Victorian tradition: “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.”

In our time, the subtitle suggests that this delectable nothing of a comedy may be done by theater companies that do serious work. And like most serious companies, the Road Theatre Company and its director, Linda de Vries, have done some reexamination of the play.

They condensed the three-act text and eliminated one intermission, turning the previous Acts I and II into a single act of two scenes. This makes for a compact and swift an edition of “Earnest.” As the Road’s first try at Wilde, it also confirms this group’s growing versatility as well as its love affair with 19th century England and Ireland. In repertory with “Earnest” on the same Desma Murphy set is Tom Jacobson’s new Irish Gothic vampire play, “Tainted Blood.”

The watchword here is class, as in upper class and the code of manners that goes with it. As Wilde’s fun-loving Algernon (Andy Hirsch) lures his more proper friend Jack (Paul E. Savas) into his favorite game of “Bunburying”--employing alter-egos and lying extravagantly--etiquette and propriety remain utmost, even as “Earnest’s” characters appear to be tumbling into chaos.

Wilde’s comedy is one of words and never madcap, and De Vries ensures that British rituals stay in place--making the comedy’s potentially disastrous confusion of identities all the more ironic. Algernon, being Wilde’s alter-ego, understands this best, and Hirsch (despite some dialect problems) lets us in on the fun. Savas enjoys playing the straight man all the way to the loopy end. Kelly Warren revels in the Victorian heavy role of Lady Bracknell, while Nancy Caine’s Gwendolen and Eleanor Zeddies’ Cecily engage in a perfectly timed cat fight.

This production also knows that just as “Earnest” earnestly engages in the masterful one-liner and pun, it plays up stereotypes as well: Carl J. Johnson is the very picture of the overfed Anglican preacher, while Jody Fasanella seems to have walked out of a Punch magazine sketch as the comically parched Miss Prism. The middle scene’s action, originally in a garden, feels comfortably smooth on Murphy’s beautifully appointed set, while Moira Moore’s Victorian costuming is strictly upper class.

“The Importance of Being Earnest,” Road Theatre Company, 5108 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Mon., Wed.-Thurs. (no performances Nov. 23, 25, or 26), 7:30 p.m. Ends Dec. 10. $12. (818) 377-2002. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.