Wilde prosecuted the father of his lover, the Marquis of Queensberry for libel, but the defence found he was gay, so instead Wilde was imprisoned for two years’ hard labour.

He died in Paris aged only 46 – destitute.

This lively satire from Serial Productions – the company that have brought us some of the community theatre’s biggest comedy hits of the past few years – is presented in conjunction with the Stirling Players at the Stirling Theatre, Morris Place, Innaloo. Once again, the group are pleased to be supporting the Heart and Lung Transplant Foundation of WA, with this production.

The two and a half hour witty and absurd performances are on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at the slightly earlier time of 7.30 pm, with matinées on Sunday 28^th August and 4^th September at 2.00 pm

It is the 1930s.   Act 1 is set in Algernon’s very smart, aristocratic sitting room with genuine Art Deco, quality furnishings (Lesley Sutton). The centrepiece is the famous fan-shaped window and doors of the period.

Act 2 is Jack Worthing’s Hertfordshire, country garden, complete with limestone wall, archway, trellis and garden furniture. Even the edge of the stage apron had miniature privet along its length.

Act 3 is Jack’s drawing room, overlooking the garden, had a dormer window and Victorian furniture.

The set was by George Boyd, Peter Clark and the team. Stirling Theatre’s own team provided the excellent lighting.

       Lane, the butler (Clare Fazackerley) sings as he tidies up Algernon’s flat, in preparation for the arrival of the brusque, controlling Lady Bracknell (Keith Scrivens) and her beautiful daughter, Gwendolen (Amanda Watson). Unexpectedly, Algernon’s (Joe Isaia) best friend, Jack (Rodney Van Groningen) calls around, he has come to tell the self-centred Algernon that he intends proposing to the ever orgasmic, Gwendolen.

     Algernon mentions to upright Jack, that he has found a cigarette case with what appears to be a love message engraved in it – from Jack to a woman. Could it be that Jack is leading a double life? as is Algernon, who has a secret friend ‘Bunbury’.

      The lecherous dandy, Algernon discovers that Jack’s ward, Cecily (Krysia Wiechecki) is now 18 years old, wealthy and ready for plucking. Surreptitiously, Algernon finds out where she lives and decides to pay her a visit, posing as Jack’s brother.

     Algernon calls whilst Cecily is studying with her middle-aged tutor, Miss Prism (Jacqui Warner). Being a typical teenager, Cecily is immediately besotted with Algernon, and so when Miss Prism goes out for a walk with her close friend, Dr. Chasuble the local rector (John Taylor), the passions flow – although the constant interruptions from Cecily’s butler, Merriman (Brendan Tobin) cramps her style.

When I heard that ‘The Importance of being Earnest’ was being staged yet again – I must have seen it more than a dozen times – I asked some of the cast ‘Why?’ and pointed out that they were making a mistake, it had been done to death. OK, I was wrong, very wrong.

Serial Productions are a team synonymous with quality. Being a closed group of well-proven actors, the acting is immaculate, the sets and costumes stunning, and the teching just goes that extra inch. Every aspect from the foyer display to the programme has been considered.

Even though director Peter Clark has won awards for his direction, and is a first class comedy actor, tackling ‘Earnest’ was still major a challenge. The purists may cringe, but Peter has chosen ‘a mild farce’ as the genre. The director has decided not to present the key line of the play in ‘Dame Edith style’, a slight disappointment. As the show progressed, I slowly came to the conclusion that this was probably the style that Oscar had in mind. It got so many more jokes, double entendres and touches of bawdiness than I have ever seen before, and they all worked so well. Hilarious.

Under the supervision of Rob Warner, the major scene change (by the cast) from sitting room to garden took only 60 seconds. At the beginning and end of every scene, Lane the Butler (Clare Fazackerley) melodically sang a few verses of songs from the period. Sound by George Boyd.

The costumes (Nyree Clark) were stunning, from the extravagant, dandyish outfit of Algy to the pastel silks of the young women. Then there was Lady Bracknell, again with stylish clothes, topped with a striking collection of feathered fascinators.

The date of the play has been moved forward 40 years to the mid-thirties, this has allowed for a fresh approach to the usual, slightly stuffy, Victorian approach.

Talking to some audience members, I was amazed how many had not seen the play before. This is a first class comedy, with a very clever set of storyline threads brilliantly presented. Seen it before? Then see it again – and love it.

Two and a half hours of non-stop fun from one of Perth’s best comedy teams.

The LP soundtrack of the 1984 film sold 15 million copies. Two of the songs being nominated for Oscars.

This bright and effervescent musical is being performed by the Darlington Theatre Players at Marloo Theatre, Marloo Road, Greenmount each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evening at 8.00, with matinees on Sundays at 2.00 pm until Saturday 12^th March.

There were no sets as such, but there were some very impressive structures (George Boyd designer) which were beautifully built and perfectly conveyed the atmosphere of the locality. Some were massive, such as the sport’s stadium, terrace seating – which moved around in total silence. Other features include the church entrance, a soda bar and barbeque eatery. The only ‘standard set’ is the minister’s home (props Raelene Cover). There were about two dozen involved in the construction, with a further dozen as stage crew.

The production was managed by Gail Palmer, and stage-managed by Rob Warner and David Bain – most impressive.

       Teenage Ren (Liam Borbas) and his Mum, Ethel (Clare Fazackerley), move from Chicago to the Mid-West, woop woop town of Bomont, to live with Ren’s Aunt Lulu (Jacqui Warner) and Uncle Wes (Alan Markham).

      At Ren’s new school is Ariel (Brittany Isaia), daughter of the puritanical minister, Reverend Moore (John Taylor) and his wife, Vi (Kylie Isaia). Ariel has an obnoxious boyfriend, Chuck Cranston (Blake Prosser), who works at the local garage with three wasters, Travis (Ethan Acott), Lyle (Owen Davis) and Rhett (Alistair Ball). Ariel’s school friends, Wendy-Jo (Suzy June Wakeling), Rusty (Teah Dunning) and Urleen (Charlize Gosnell) try to warn her about Chuck but Ariel will not listen.

       Ren finds himself being outcast by the school Principal (Michele Acott) for being too outspoken. Even local cop (David Seaman) gives him a ticket. The sports coach, Mr Dunbar (Luke Miller) and his wife, Eleanor (Sarah Palmer), treat Ren shabbily because they are Bridge friends of the Rev. Shaw.

       Whilst in Betty’s (Rachel Vonk) ‘Blast’ soda café, shy Willard (Chris Ball) explains the no pop music and dancing policy of the town council. As the trio sing (Georgia Kinnane, Nicola Kinnane and Belinda Beatty) Ren musters his classmates and unsuccessfully demands a senior prom, and so with a group of friends drive 100 miles to an untamed night of liberty at the Bar BQ Club. The Club is a wild place, where Bob (Simon Dreyer) and the cowgirls (Gemma Addison and Eden Sambridge) boot scoot, as the singers (Darin Aqila, Charlie Darlington) chant.

      Can Ren win Ariel’s heart? With the help of friends, Jeter (Billy Darlington) and Garvin (Matt Manning), can anything be done win over Reverend Moore’s mind block?

Other performers include: Steph Shaw, Aaliyah Thompson, Asha Vivian, Brooklyn Kamer, Rebecca Mattison, ​​Channing Whitworth, Laura Goodlet, Nieve Hope, Caitlyn Hughes, Sophie Todd, Jordan Tabb, Emilie Tiivel, Tania Morrow, Clare Smale, Caitlin Walker and Luke Heath.

Suzanne Kosowitz, the musical director, has done an outstanding job. The music from her seven-piece band was well-balanced and complemented the singing, rather than have the poor singers fighting to be heard (as so often happens). The band members were Tabitha Broughton (woodwind), Thomas Felton (Electric bass), Cameron Hayes and Harrison Love (Guitar), Jo Keenan and Daniel Slee (Keyboard) with Richard Pooley (Drums).

With a cast of ‘thousands’, each wearing around four intricate and stylish costumes each, wardrobe mistress Marjorie De Caux wisely enlisted the help of Shelly Miller, Rachel Vonk and Sophie Todd. The result was stunning, plenty of colour and quality, all based in that era three decades ago.

The choreography, thanks to Arianah Isaia skills, was inventive and fresh. With such a huge cast to handle, there is inevitably a couple of actors out of sync, however, this cast – right up to the final curtain – were smiling, fully charged and performing quite complex movements. Even the singers had intricate arm and hand movements. The dancing ranged from romantic waltz, boot scooting, soft shoe to tap dancing.

The sound, designed by Chris Hewitt, Greg Rusha and Dylan Borbeau, was brilliant. The train sound effects (Anita Bound, Lesley Broughton) amazing. The slight echo used on the voices gave them depth, and the ‘dreaded’ headsets actually worked perfectly.

Joy Miles and Shelly Miller’s pulsing light design was in sync with the music, with the choice of colours and brightness levels spot-on. Well done Lesley Broughton, Julie Hickling and Lachie Kessey.

The directors, Joe Isaia and his assistant Michele Acott, had to oversee dozens of youngsters and complicated teching, before they even got to the singing and dancing. Joe selected a great team and it showed. Most productions are lucky to get a couple of good singers and the rest are average. This production had at least a dozen talented singers, and most of them could dance beautifully too.

EVERY single actor was fully rehearsed, and performed immaculately. Congratulations.

This fun musical has drive, colour and vibrancy, try and catch it.