David McBean’s comedic bag of tricks is stuffed to the brim with pouting lips, the sidewise glance, the sudden lowering of voice and the overall disdainful attitude. He is exceptionally well-suited to play the unseen fictional character in Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Giving Bunbury a chance to muck up the literary canon is the purpose of Tom Jacobson’s hilarious romp, “Bunbury,” playing through June 17 at Diversionary Theatre.
Wilde’s seen character and protagonist, Algernon Moncreif, has just departed when the curtain rises on the languishing, lily-bearing Bunbury (McBean). Bunbury’s piano-playing butler, Hartley, is portrayed by Tom Zohar with just the right degree of Wildean archness. Bunbury, of course, is Algernon’s nonexistent, ailing friend in the country, an excuse anytime he wants to get out of London.
These visits are known as “Bunburying,” and the underlying implication is that such excursions hide the real purpose, an escape from imposed heterosexuality. Bunbury is miffed enough to be fictional and an offstage character but even more put off by the fact that his name has further reduced him to a verb, or ” more properly, as pointed out ” to a gerund.
The third character to appear is Rosaline (Melissa Fernandes), whom Romeo loves before he meets Juliet in Shakespeare’s tragedy. Among others, Bunbury and Rosaline journey through and interfere with “Waiting for Godot,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” infusing each with a happy ending. The consequences are delicious. Fernandes and McBean are assisted by a fine ensemble comprising Zohar, Diane Addis, Chris Buess, Aaron Marcotte, John Rosen and Wendy Waddell.
“Bunbury” is billed as a serious play for trivial people. People serious about and acquainted with literature of stage, page and poetry take great delight in the work, screaming with laughter when characters appear, identifying them by props and attire alone, usually before a word is spoken. Accents range from upper-class British to deep-south American; and when accents falter Jennifer Brawn Gittings’ costumes are the identifiers. (In one instance, the man a row behind whispered “Tom Joad” when in fact the character was Blanche DuBois’ young, unseen husband in “Streetcar,” about to be seduced, and hilariously so, by Bunbury.)
When Bunbury realizes he and Rosaline are making happy with everything in literary fiction, he is dismayed; all he wants, he says, is to matter, to bring about change in the real world, to bring peace, to end strife. Though it’s a humdinger, the play’s subtle denouement may slip by some theatergoers. Clue: It puts one in mind of the first page in Michael Chabon’s history-bending new book, “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union,” on which he casually mentions the Cuban War.
If you love theater, literature and good comedy, do not miss this play. It’s among Diversionary’s all-time best.
Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays, at Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Blvd. Tickets are $27 to $29 (with some discounts), available by visiting www.diversionary.org or calling (619) 220-0097.
