Importance of Being Earnest
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - Sunday, March 29, 2009

By Oscar Wilde
Directed by Chris Coleman

Subtitled "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People," The Importance of Being Earnest is Wilde's most sparkling comedy of manners. The dizzying plot centers around Algernon Moncrieff, an upper-class English Bachelor, who is visited by his friend Jack Worthing, who likes to be known as "Ernest" when he comes to London from his home in the country. Jack has come to town to propose to Gwendolen Fairfax, the daughter of the imposing Lady Bracknell, but he encounters two rather insurmountable problems. First, Gwendolen is only willing to consent to marry because his name is Ernest, a name that "seems to inspire absolute confidence," but which, of course, is not Jack's true Christian name. Second, Lady Bracknell objects to Jack as a suitor when she learns that as an infant, he was abandoned by his parents and found in a handbag in Victoria Station. Meanwhile, Algernon heads off to Jack's country home to check out his ward, Cecily, to whom he introduces himself as Jack's brother Ernest. This meets with Cecily's approval because in her diary she has been writing about her engagement to a man named Ernest. Then things get really interesting.

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