Wednesday Writings

This Wednesday Writings is a little different. Instead of coming from the "642 Things to Write About", this is something some students in my theater class got to do for our group projects and so I decided to do it too.

Dream Cast "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde

John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing, J.P.: 

Seemingly responsible and respectable but leads a double life. Has to be a little older because he is the guardian of teenage Cecily. I chose Daniel Craig because duh, he plays James Bond so we know he can do smooth with a dark side.

Algernon Moncrieff:

Brilliant, witty, selfish, amoral, charming. Has to still be a little likeable because we have to understand why Jack/Ernest and Cecily like him. I chose Hugh Laurie because he is incredibly funny and loveable. Plus he plays the very selfish, amoral House so well.

Gwendolen Fairfax:

A model and arbiter on high fashion and society, sophisticated, intelligent, intellectual, cosmopolitan, moral. Loves Jack/Earnest because of his name Earnest and insists she will not marry anyone without the name Earnest. Algernon's cousin.  I chose Emily Blunt because she does comedy well and she is classy.

Cecily Cardew:

Jack's ward and Gwen's antithesis. Imaginative and pure. Naive like 17 year-old girls can be. Obsessed with wickedness. Very sweet. I know I've chosen all British actors up until this one but I could not get Amanda Seyfried out of my head while I was working on this project with my group. She is very sweet and I don't think she would seem too young for Hugh Laurie like my second choice, Mia Wasikowska, might.

Lady Bracknell:

Algernon's aunt and Gwen's mother. Snobbish and domineering, unknowingly prone to hilarious pronouncements. Meant to satirize the hypocrisy and stupidity of aristocracy. Prefers ignorance over intellegence and would like to marry Gwen off to someone high society. Maggie Smith obviously does humor well and I think we can all say she would look great in Victorian costumes and play the old Victorian-valued mother well.

There are four other minor characters: a nanny, two butlers, and a reverend but I don't think it is necessary to cast huge actors into these parts because they each have very few lines. This was fun! I'm going to have to do this again!