'Importance of Being Earnest' at Chautauqua Playhouse

What's in a name?

If you were in the Victorian era of London, say around 1895, and said your name was Ernest, that might sit well with the ladies.

That is the name given by the male protagonists to the objects of their affection in Oscar Wilde's play , which runs through at Carmichael's and is directed by Gil Sebastian.

The play opens with Algernon Moncrieff (Chris Quandt) receiving a friend, John Worthing (Kevin Foster), whom he knows as Ernest. Ernest has come from the country to propose to Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax (Alison Sundstrom).

During their chat, John admits he is known as John (or Jack) in the country, where he is a ward to Cecily Cardew (Emily Labowitch), and Ernest in the city. As Jack, he pretends that he must worry about a younger brother named Ernest in London.

Gwendolen visits Algernon's flat with her mother Lady Bracknell (Lenore Sebastian). While Algernon distracts Bracknell, Worthing proposes to Gwendolen and she accepts, professing her love of the name Ernest. Jack decides to rechristen himself as Ernest.

When Lady Bracknell hears of the engagement, she sizes Worthing up as a suitor for her daughter. Sebastian, who was assistant director for Earnest alongside her husband, plays a potential mother-in-law from hell.

Quandt, who has been seen in past Chautauqua productions including Scrooge and The Diary of Anne Frank and in community theater in Roseville, stands out for his performance, as Algernon makes bitter comments about marriage and women.

"All women become their mothers, that is their tragedy," Algernon says, eliciting one of many laughs from the audience that evening.

Once Lady Bracknell discovers Worthing is an orphan left in a handbag as a baby, she opposes the marriage. Jack tells Gwendolen to meet him at his country estate and Algernon decides to make a visit, intrigued by Cecily.

The second act moves to Jack’s country house, the Manor House in Woolton, Hertfordshire as Cecily studies with Miss Prism (Claudia Wrazel). Algernon arrives, pretending to be Ernest Worthing, and soon charms Cecily, who also says she loves the name.

Algernon also decides to be rechristened as Ernest and asks The Rev. Canon Chasuble (Paul Fearn) to assist him. Jack, meanwhile, has decided to abandon his double life.

Ably played as a bit of a nerd by Foster, who has appeared in shows at Davis Musical Theater Company, he arrives in mourning and announces Ernest’s death in Paris of a severe chill, a story undermined by Algernon’s presence as Ernest.

Gwendolen arrives, having run away from home, and meets Cecily. While talking, they discover both are engaged to "Ernest."  Once both men appear, their stories fall apart.

Lady Bracknell arrives and recognizes Miss Prism as the woman who about almost three decades earlier, as a family nursemaid, took a baby boy out for a stroll in a baby carriage and lost him by accident after she left him in a handbag.

I won't give away the ending but the ensuing discovery makes for a fine ending to the play.

Labowitch holds her own as the youngest member in the cast. She has performed shows with the Franklin High School Theatre Company in Elk Grove.

Sundstrom is a senior at the University of California, Davis and is charming as Gwendolen, although the feud that breaks out between her and Cecily when they think they're engaged to the same man has perhaps a modern equivalent in the women of "The Bachelor" who fight for their man.

Stephen Watson rounds out the cast in the dual roles of Merriman the butler and Lane the manservant.

Do yourself a favor and go see The Importance of Being Earnest at the Chautauqua Playhouse tonight or Saturday at 8 p.m. or Sunday at 2. You'll be glad you did.

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