Victorian

Wild Wilde comedy at Buck Creek

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By Earnest Bunbury John Lyle Belden

Buck Creek Players takes on a classic comedy tackling issues of identity within a strict society, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” which playwright Oscar Wilde cheekily called “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.”

The subtext was hardly trivial for Wilde, with this well-received 1895 play coming out shortly before his infamous legal spat that had him imprisoned for homosexuality (a crime in Victorian Britain). For BCP, director Mel DeVito sought to enhance the comedy’s queerness with cross-gender casting.

Amanda McCabe said that when she auditioned, she had no idea she would become Jack “Earnest” Worthing. “I believe Wilde would have loved this,” she said after a performance. DeVito agrees, adding, “I just wanted to see Ben (Jones) in a dress” – which he is as haughty mistress of manners Lady Augusta Bracknell. Judy Lombardo plays both the servant parts, one as male and one female. Paige Scott, whose past roles include a trans character in “Hedwig,” portrays a rather distinguished clergyman, Dr. Chausable.

We open at the home of Algernon Moncrieff (Aaron Beal), where Earnest (McCabe) has come to woo his cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax (Brittany Magee). Our suitor wins her heart, but not her hand as Aunt Augusta, a/k/a Lady Bracknell (Jones), forbids their union, considering the young man’s rakish reputation and apparent low birth.

Mr. Worthing has two more complications: Gwendolen insists she will only marry a man named “Earnest,” and Algernon has found the proof that is not his name. As for the latter, cynically jovial Algernon finds it amusing that his friend also enjoys “Bunburying” – named for his habit of avoiding responsibilities by going to visit his non-existent “invalid friend” named Bunbury. Worthing says his double life lets him be serious “Jack” around his ward, the beautiful young heiress Cecily Cardew (Kielynn Tally), and “Earnest,” Jack’s younger more fun-loving brother, elsewhere.

The plot twists and thickens when Algernon goes to call on Cicely, introducing himself to governess Miss Prism (Tracy Herring) as Earnest. This thrills the girl, who always wanted to marry a man by that name.

As Lady Bracknell says later, coincidences are very unseemly. Wilde’s pen seemed not to care.

The casting and sharply delivered performances bring out all the fun and make the satire relatable, including obliviousness to hypocrisy, vice as virtue, and women’s thoughts in diary form being a sort of official record of social life. McCabe embodies Jack/Earnest with dashing charm and Chaplain-esque nimbleness. Magee and Tally both play wily and smart, especially when the young women have the upper hand over their “Earnests.” Beal plays Algernon as a smooth cad, yet ever likable.

Jones commands the stage, perfectly blending a stern Victorian matron and a no-nonsense drag persona. Lombardo speaks volumes with an eye roll. Herring gets moments to shine when her small role becomes more integral to the denouement. Scott is subtly wonderful, even while Chausible is perplexed but willing to re-christen adult men.

For a fun old “trivial comedy” as you’ve never seen it before, “The Importance of Being Earnest” has one more weekend, Friday through Sunday, Sept. 12-14, at the Buck Creek Playhouse, 11150 Southeastern Ave., Indianapolis (Acton Road exit off I-74). Get tickets and info at buckcreekplayers.com.

Magician presents spirited old-style gathering

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By John Lyle Belden

At the same time as the modern magic show evolved throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, a movement arose involving communication with the deceased, known as Spiritualism. Turns out, the two had a lot in common.

Lexington, Ky., magician John Shore presents “The Talking Dead: Experiences from the Victorian Séance,” a one-hour exploration of the history and methods of Spiritualist mediums. After a successful debut at The Mary Todd Lincoln House in Lexington, and some revisions, this carefully-researched performance had a one night only showing recently at the IndyFringe Basile Theatre in Indianapolis, produced by Taylor Martin.

Shore decries the tense horror atmosphere of seances as portrayed by Hollywood, noting that especially from the 1840s to the 1920s, they had an overall relaxed atmosphere, an evening’s entertainment for middle and upper classes. Seating is mainly on stage, with some especially close to a pair of small tables, recreating the necessary intimate feel. Light is sometimes by a single candle.

We learn about historical figures including the Fox Sisters, who started the craze with rapping at walls and tables; D.D. Home, whose spirit power made furniture move; Dr. Henry Slade, who advanced from yes-or-no knocks or guesses at cards to mysterious messages on schoolhouse slates; and Margery the Medium, whose feats defied explanation throughout her career. We also hear about notables such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who believed absolutely everything presented to him, and legendary magician/escapologist Harry Houdini, who absolutely did not.

Shore delivers more than a lecture. The table moves and the cards reveal, while mysterious raps surround us, a simple bell rings itself, and a tambourine clatters – revealing that our séance has its own unseen spirit guide present.  (We even get “her” name.)

This splendid presentation gives us illusions in which the knowledgeable might suspect solutions, but with an air of mystery that keeps that part of you that wants to believe tuned in. As Spiritualism evolved into a bona fide religion, Shore notes that the mystery of faith plays an important role in the experience.

“Exposing it (as Houdini and his contemporaries did) really became beside the point,” Shore said after the show. As it was said in that era, neither for the skeptic nor the believer would anything fully change their minds.

As in a true séance of yesteryear, there is a fair amount of audience involvement. In fact, all who attend are asked to each write down a question for the spirits. A number of these will be selected – and answered.

Martin, a longtime Fringe veteran and master of the Indy Magic performance series, is working with Shore to bring “The Talking Dead” to this summer’s IndyFringe Festival. We are hoping they make it onto the schedule, as this enlightening and entertaining show will likely be a big hit. However, as much of the audience in the recent performance were members and friends of the local magic community, it will be interesting to see how more mundane folks handle the mysterious goings-on.  

BCP musical a story of love and letters

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By Wendy Carson

Buck Creek Players’ latest offering, “After the Fair,” brings us a feminine twist of the traditional Cyrano tale.

In a country town in Victorian England, Edith Harnham is a well-to-do woman of a certain age who finds herself stuck in a rut. Her love for her husband, Arthur, is fading, and she feels trapped by her station and circumstances. However, her young maid, Anna, provides her with an escape of sorts. The girl falls in love with a gentleman she meets at the fair, and the two set upon a romantic correspondence. Since Anna can barely read or write, Edith serves as her go-between, penning her letters, and a web of love and deceit is cast.

Lori Ecker shows Edith to be a very passionate woman who has just lost touch with that side of herself, and blossoms once it is recaptured. Scott S. Semester as Arthur blusters his way through most of the show ignoring all but his own business until something reminds him of why he fell in love with his wife in the first place.

Tara Sorg is a delight to behold as Anna, the simple country girl who falls hard for a man she knows nothing about. Her wide-eyed optimism is refreshing even though her naïveté could ultimately be her downfall.

Rounding out the cast is Zachary Hoover as the dashing yet churlish Charles. While he knows his time with Anna was just some wild oats being youthfully sown, her letters touch his heart and sway him to consider her to be more than a mere dalliance.

How will this play out, and will there be a happily ever after? This Off-Broadway musical based on a Thomas Hardy short story doesn’t give our characters an easy out as tension and complications mount. Though enmeshed in the strict class structure of the time, we can still relate to the characters’ yearnings – falling in love, with its joys and pains, happens in every era.

Performances of “After the Fair” run through Feb. 10 at the Buck Creek Playhouse, 11150 Southeastern Ave. (Acton Road Exit off I-74). Call 317-862-2270 or visit www.buckcreekplayers.com.