The titular hero doesn't exist in real life, nor does the main character – not to mention something like a real plot.
Miesbach – Nevertheless, the comedy "Bunbury – Being Serious is Everything" by the Irish-English writer Oscar Wilde (1854 to 1900) is great fun. Polished wordplay and biting social criticism alike amused performers and audiences alike when the Junge Bühne Miesbach celebrated its premiere with the play in the hall of the Gasthof Bräuwirt. Under the imaginative direction of Regina Weber-Toepel, a precise team acts, which portrays Oscar Wilde's over-the-top characters and sharp, lively dialogues with obvious pleasure and rewarded with a lot of scene applause.
Red thread: Two bon vivants and their double lives
The common thread of the scenes is provided by the befriended bon vivants Algie Moncrieff (Michael Probst) and Jack Worthing (Helmut Enzinger) - fabulously blasé and exaggeratedly self-assured with their double lives. Algie has invented his sick friend Bunbury for his women-hunting trips to the countryside, who is worth visiting. Jack is drawn to the city, where he pretends to be his misbegotten brother Ernst and lets off steam. Things get tight when things get serious for Jack with Algie's niece Gwendolen Fairfax (deliciously: Ute Bauer). And for Algie with Jack's ward Cecily Cardew (wonderfully rebellious-bashful pubescent: Sonja Fischbacher). Now the fantasy figures Bunbury and Ernst have to be somehow eliminated.
Being serious isn't everything
All sorts of complications arise in the process, in which Gwendolen's mother Lady Augusta Bracknell (wonderfully busy and class-consciously inflated: Monika Greindl), Cecily's governess Leticia Prism (convincingly diligent and prudish: Verena Flossmann) and the pastor Dr. Frederick Chasuble (very prettily inhibited and eager: Thomas Mayer) are more or less actively involved. By playing with clichés and prejudices about the coexistence and opposition of women and men, Wolfgang Wastlhuber as the butler Merriman, who "absolutely" has everything under control, floats stunningly serviceable and inconspicuous. Musically tongue-in-cheek intermediate remarks are provided by Roman Postel with old Schlager catchy tunes, accompanied on the piano by Peter Mittermeier, from "Sugar, Sugar Baby" to "Schöner fremder Mann" and "Männer sind Schweine" to "Ganz in Weiß".
Because seriousness is not everything about this play, the premiere guests thanked with long and stormy applause for an enjoyable evening.
Further performances
"Bunbury – Being serious is everything" will be performed by the Junge Bühne Miesbach again on Saturday, May 13, Sunday, May 14, Friday, May 19, Saturday, 20, and Sunday, May 21, each at 19 p.m. (admission from 18 p.m.) at the Bräuwirt on Miesbach's market square. Tickets are available at Buch am Markt, Marktplatz 19 in Miesbach, or online at www.junge-buehne-mies bach.de.
GUDULA BEYSE
