All posts by Lin Young

Lin Young is a PhD candidate in the English Department at Queen’s University by day, an insatiable theatre-goer by night. She truly loves seeing innovative indie theatre, the strange sort of hole-in-the-wall shows that big companies would never take a risk on. She’s seen plays in basements, gardens, bars, and in old dilapidated houses, to name a few. She’s always on the lookout for the next theatrical experiment in the city, and loves seeing shows that have some quality of fantasy, historicity, or strangeness to them – especially if they involve puppets! She tweets about theatre, comics and the 19th century at @linkeepsitreal.

Review: Earnest, the Importance of Being (Toronto Operetta Theatre)

Gwendolen & Cecily at Love SeatA silly, sparkling, Canadian operetta Earnest, the Importance of Being  returns to the Toronto stage

Earnest, the Importance of Being has at least one interesting historical distinction. Originally staged by the Toronto Operetta Theatre in 2008, it marks the first Canadian operetta to be produced in over 100 years. Based on Oscar Wilde’s classic play, The Importance of Being Earnest, the TOT is returning to Wilde’s rollicking comedy with a winning revival of their previous hit at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.

Jack (Cameron McPhail) is ‘Jack’ in the country, but ‘Ernest’ in town. The deception is part of an elaborate ruse he’s concocted in order to carry out his bachelor lifestyle without hassle. Unfortunately, Jack’s fiancée Gwendolyn (Michelle Garlough) has always dreamed of marrying a man named Ernest, and considers any other name to be unacceptable in a husband.

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