Oscar Wilde’s witty farce The Importance of Being Earnest has been given a vigorous twist at Kingston’s Rose, with a black cast directed by Denzel Westley-Sanderson.

Lady Bracknell is played like a pantomime dame by drag queen Daniel Jacob, whose exaggerated camp gestures and mobile eyebrows almost seem superfluous in a show in which Wilde’s brilliant script really needs no overegging.

Daniel Jacob plays Lady Bracknell       All pics: Mark Senior

This is a production which gathers momentum, moving at a relatively slow pace through the first half before accelerating to full tilt in the second.

A clever set (Lily Arnold designs) allows the cast of eight to sometimes be glimpsed through gauze walls, giving a pleasing depth to the drama.

Overall, the women are stronger than the men, with Adele James (Gwendolen), Phoebe Campbell (Cecily), Anita Reynolds (Dr Chasuble) and – especially – Joanne Henry (Miss Prism) turning in more nuanced performances than the all-or-nothing acting of the leading men; Justice Ritchie as Jack Worthing and Abiola Owokoniran as Algie Moncrieff.

Phoebe Campbell, in one of her first stage roles, plays Cecily

Perhaps that is how Westley-Sanderson wants it, but when you have a script this sharp, restraint is sometimes called for.

Despite being nearly 130 years old, the satire about relationships, marriage, gender, absurd family life, and town v country is as fresh as if it had been newly minted.

There are some lovely little touches; real apples, for instance, on a tree at the centre of the stage, allowing two of the actors to pick them and crunch!

Bold sound (Beth Duke) and lighting (Zoe Spurr) are vital to this production, which runs until November 12 (book HERE) and neatly builds the excitement to the Rose Theatre’s grand seasonal romp of A Christmas Carol, which begins on December 2.