“It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances,” said Oscar Wilde; thus exonerating me from my belief that the entire cast of Jersey Shore needs a good wash and a vaccination. I couldn’t name the entire cast nor do I care to, but be it as it may, their antics and their ilk are representative of a societal shift into appalling conduct classed as entertainment.

It’s not a particularly new concept—the Ancient Romans’ (and the cast’s forbears incidentally) dramatisations of the gods and their misdemeanours were what we would consider today as gossip columns. Today, however, we see the age-old sources of amusement—literature and theatre—merging into a Frankenstein’s monster of a cultural mash-up created by none other than the playgoer’s bible, Playbill: Jersey Shore Gone Wilde.

Performed by actors, Santino Fontana and David Furr as key protagonists, Algernon Moncrieff and Ernest Worthing of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, the vox pops of The Situation, Jwoww, Snooki et al make for comic relief replete with British accents. Be warned—it does contain vulgar language, but if you’ve seen Jersey Shore you’ll understand that its “stars” aren’t exactly a picture of refinement.

Though it’s a clever way of invigorating the theatre, you can just about hear Oscar Wilde spinning in his grave at Cimetière du Père Lachaise. Or perhaps it’s his skeleton grinding against The Situation’s abdominal region?

See the rest here:

(via Refinery29)

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