...EARNEST? - Lighthouse Poole, Thursday 27, Friday 28 February, Saturday 1 March

Friday, January 24, 2025
…EARNEST?
 
THURSDAY 27, FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY 1 MARCH
7.45pm (2.30pm Sat mat) (THEATRE) 
 
Tickets and information 01202 280000 
 
Having further endeared himself to Lighthouse audiences over Christmas with a winning turn as Happy Harry in Sleeping Beauty, actor Josh Haberfield is heading back to Poole in the upscaled touring production of the Edinburgh Fringe smash, …Earnest? from Thursday 27 February to Saturday 1 March.
 
The play opens moments before the curtain is due to go up it on a performance of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest when it is revealed to the audience that the lead actor has gone missing and the company must cast someone from the audience… with genuinely hilarious consequences.
 
Josh plays hapless director Simon Slough.
 
“It’s just a joy of a show, a blend of stand-up comedy and theatre,” he explains, adding that as the show unfolds more and more things go wrong, other cast members drop out, so additional members of the audience are called up to play various roles.
 
“It’s more like coming for an experience because it’s completely unique, no two shows are ever the same. As far as we know no-one has been brave – or stupid – enough to invite random audience members up on stage and get them to improvise.”
 
Last year, before joining the cast of Sleeping Beauty in panto at Poole, Josh has been on a mammoth 37-week tour in …Earnest? … and loved every moment!
 
“I’ll tell you what’s been lovely about last year touring with it, has been night after night seeing that humans are willing to help each other out,” he says.
 
“Everything we see in the news doesn’t exactly instill faith in people, but what this has done is show me that when something goes wrong – the play has to finish and we need help to put it on – other people are willing to have a go.
 
“There are no plants, no set ups, we use random audience members and it is just the most fun night out you could possibly imagine. Not only is it a comedy, you get to the end of it and it’s just the most wholesome thing.”
 
Josh grew up near Christchurch with his parents Tony and Sarah, and cut his theatrical teeth in the area’s am-drams before a BTEC at Poole College’s Jellicoe Theatre paved the way to Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts where he studied musical theatre.
 
He’s passionate about paddleboarding – “that’s my reset activity” – and is a highly accomplished drummer, touring extensively as legendary drummer Jerry Allison in Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. Last year he backed Jay Osmond (of 70s bubblegum pop juggernaut The Osmonds) on tour.
 
But, for now at least, his focus is firmly on …Earnest?
 
“I’m one of the company directors for Say It Again Sorry, which is the company that created …Earnest?, and I’m so proud of it.
 
“We’re now meeting and talking to people about the future of the show, about an American tour and the possibility of West End transfers. The fact those conversations are even happening is all very exciting and very scary at the same time because the more the thing grows the more we can’t quite believe it.”
 
: …Earnest? runs from Thursday 27 February until Saturday 1 March. Tickets are on sale now at https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk or call 01202 280000.