Review: Miksi naiset aina rakastuvat Ernestiin

The lifestyle of the upper class is the object of ridicule

Even the beginning seems promising. Algernon (Sampo Sarkola), a young upper-class British dude, enters the scene and has a laugh-out-loud conversation with his self-confident servant Lane (Joachim Wigelius) about cucumber bread and other “very” important things.

The verbal rejoicing continues throughout the performance, after all, it is the well-known comedy The Importance of Being Earnest by the intellectual writer Oscar Wilde, who was active in London in the late 1800s. At Lilla Teatern, the play is performed in Finnish translation as Why Women Always Fall in Love with Ernest, written by Sam Hardwick. The performance is directed with a confident touch by Neil Hardwick.

The plot of the comedy is not that amazing. Two young women, Gwendolen (Armi Toivanen) and Cecily (Edith Holmström), want to marry, but only to a man named Ernest. This ensues a tangle of misunderstandings and confusion involving Algernon’s friend John (Pekka Strang), his aunt Lady Bracknell (Birgitta Ulfsson) and the vicar Chasuble (Tom Wentzel).

However, the light-hearted hilarity hides a hefty dose of criticism of the society of its time and the lifestyle of the upper class. Many of its lines have survived, such as “The truth is rarely pure and never simple”, “A cynic knows the price of everything but the value of nothing” and “We are all in the gutter, but some of us look at the stars”.

The actors throw themselves into their roles with all their professionalism. Special mention must be given to Ulfsson, who is perfectly suited to the arrogant and hypocritical role of Lady Bracknell. The glorious emptiness of upper-class life is emphasized by the magnificent costumes and sets designed by Kirsti Kasnio .