Superlatives spring to mind and flow easily onto paper when a performance hits all the right buttons with pizzazz. “The Importance of Being Earnest” is a difficult play to bring to life on stage because its sharp edge humour requires perfect delivery, articulation and timing. The ripples of laughter that spread all over the audience at regular intervals and the little giggles and sniggers from random sections that punctuated the general merriment at the Kala Academy Hall on Friday 24 August proved that VAYAM, the Amateur Theartre Club of the Goa Naval Area had given Goa the long awaited for full length English play in performance. An awesome beginning.

Costumes, set design and construction are formidable obstacles in bringing a classic period costume play onto stage. One remembers Roxana Singh’s impressive lavish costumes and attention to detail in a Shakespeare compilation she had presented some years back at Lisa Chowgule’s College, Vasco. Once again, that same care and exuberance touch this production with magic. The Naval Aeronautical Yard executed an innovative set with swiveling panels which enabled a quick changeover from a city flat to a Manor garden, both rich with detail. Cdr. Raut and Lt. Cdr. Ghatge were behind the designs. Sharon Rodrigues translated the Victorian dress modes to suit the satirical idiom of the play. Oscar Wilde shows up the foibles of the Victorian Page 3’s which find numerous echoes in our contemporary society.

The Lighting threw a warm glow over the entire stage and the Sound projected the subtle nuance of the witty dialogue to every corner of the hall without any electronic glitches. These are fine details that ensure total enjoyment.

It is so difficult to be British anywhere outside Britain but Roxana obtained from her actors lucid articulation and commendable simulation of Victorian England. The Commanders who made up the male actors lived their new roles as pompous men each preoccupied with their little pet behaviours and pastimes very convincingly. The two lead actors played off each other very well rubbing constant sparks of wit in their fast paced exchanges. Jack (Cdr.Vikram Menon) was the more relaxed and comfortable in the role. Algernon (Cdr.Uday Thapar) managed some wonderful “double takes” but tended to go overboard, relishing his lines to the hilt. Maybe this is excusable in a “Comedy of Manners”. The butlers (both played by Cdr. Gabriel!) captured the walk and talk, the manner of a British butler to perfection. Not much to say but delivered with the respectful disdain that typifies the type. Straight out of P.G. Wodehouse.

The women were generally very posturing. The play demands this to a certain extent. Vaishali Joshi (Lady Bracknell) brought the stiff upper lip pomposity to life admirably. Yet many of the lines were spoken to the audience. There is difference between asides and dialogue. Sometimes this was perplexedly blurred and marred her performance. To take a small example, her “Good Afternoon Mr Worthing” delivered sternly and dismissingly is intended to intimidate Jack and create a final note of disapproval. This is obvbiously directed at Jack with the intention of shriveling him with her venomous tongue. Curiously, she directed all her energy to the audience!

Gwendolen (Aparajita Menon) looked the part – the costume, the hairstyle and her manner showcased her acting ability. However, she need not underline the jokes with her voice and she needs to relax, be more confident of her acting ability and step into the role. The tenseness and the effort to achieve showed. Neha Joshi made a charming Cecily, sweet voiced and prancing dreamily. But the gesturing, the forward pushes, the side dismissal paddles and holding the skirt while speaking were imports from school plays and should be smoothed away in a production of this high caliber.

Miss Prism (Shilpa Chinmulgund) was too attractive for the role played on stage and film by Margaret Ruthertford who brings a rough country image into the play. Dr Chasuble (Cdr. Banerjee) is also meant to be a fumbling comic character, well matched with Miss Prism. Both the characters were played with a sophisticated charm contrary to the bumbling people they usually are in performances of the play.

Though the play is didactic, that is Oscar Wilde is commenting with razor keen wit on the “manners” of society, most of the play is “dramatic”, that is the characters interact with each other. This was not always the case. Jack delivers a long speech stuck behind a chair, Cicely and Gwendolen speak with their backs turned to each other at a 45 degree angle to the audience. Often the characters stand in one line and then move back to form another straight line. I cannot understand how this fits in with the concept of fluid stage movement.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Oscar Wilde would be pleased to have achieved a foothold in Goa. The audience went away with raised eyebrows, raised that such an evening could take place in Goa, that an English play could provide so much enjoyment. The money from the sale of the tickets went to the National Association for the Blind. Perhaps the Hall could have been filled to capacity but many doubted that a local amateur group could do justice to perhaps the best English comedy. It was indeed “an exciting and stimulating collective experience” for the team that produced the play and for the very appreciative and participative audience.