It would appear that the current revival of an Oscar Wilde classic at Manchester’s Royal Exchange is delighting the cast just as much as the audience. “Every single night when we come off, the over riding feeling backstage is absolute elation,” said Rumi Sutton who plays Cecily in this updated version of The Importance of Being Earnest. “We’re having such a fun time.
I’m incredibly blessed that the entire company are such good eggs; they are fantastic people and ridiculously talented. It makes the whole thing so much more enjoyable.” Parth Thakerar and Rumi Sutton in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Royal Exchange (Picture: Joel C Fildes) This is Rumi’s first role in a straight play since leaving the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama but she is not a total stranger to the play.
“At drama school I did one of the scenes and I actually played Cecily in that,” she said, “so it was a bit of a full circle moment when I got the job.” Director Josh Roche has moved the comedy out of the Edwardian drawing room and made it very much a play for today with millennials Algie and Jack looking for love yet afraid of commitment and the ideas of class and status very much to the fore. “There have been minor adjustments to nudge it towards today’s world,” said Rumi, “but the for majority of the script it is as written and it is so striking how relevant it is.
“All the same issues are there; the jokes are applicable, it is so intelligent. “The fac.