Sense of play is paramount in The Pantaloon's productions

The marvellous madcap Pantaloons are back at the Under Ground Theatre at 7pm on Saturday May 7 with an inventive version of the much-loved Oscar Wilde classic The Importance of Being Earnest.
By The Newsroom
Published 4th May 2016, 15:06 BST
The Importance Of Being Earnest by The Pantaloons Theatre at UGTThe Importance Of Being Earnest by The Pantaloons Theatre at UGT
The Importance Of Being Earnest by The Pantaloons Theatre at UGT

Everybody loves Ernest. The only trouble is, he doesn’t exist. Or does he?

Wilde’s comic masterpiece gets The Pantaloons treatment in their anarchic take on the classic comedy of manners. This energetic show features all the usual Wildean wit, plus a few Pantaloony surprises including singing butlers, travel by means of musical montage and a post-interval Hollywood-style recap.

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The Pantaloons draw from a wide variety of popular theatre traditions, from commedia dell’arte and pantomime to stand-up comedy and silent movies, to bring what the team considers to be a sense of “play” back to classical performance. Deep in the Pantaloons DNA is Stephen Purcell, who went to Motcombe, Ocklynge and Ratton Schools and also Park College here in Eastbourne. He founded The Pantaloons while he was doing his PhD at Kent University in 2004. He is now Assistant Professor in English at Warwick University; The Pantaloons are currently run by his friends Caitlin and Mark Hayward.

Tickets cost £9 for adults, (£8 for UGT members/students) and £6.50 for children. Buy tickets at the UGT on Fridays/Saturdays 10am–4pm, or Eastbourne Tourist Information.

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