The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

You can’t beat Oscar Wilde when it comes to witty dialogue. The playwright mastered the art form of clever repartee and The Importance of Being Earnest is the best example of that talent.

Two bachelors, Jack and Algernon, both find themselves pretending to be someone they are not in order to get what they want. Their actions cause confusion and cat fights when two ladies, Gwendolen and Cecily find themselves falling for the fictional “Earnest.” Top it off with the indomitable Lady Bracknell, whose matchmaking skills rely heavily on evaluating someone’s social standing and you’ve got a recipe for hilarity.

I’ve always loved this play and rereading it was a treat. I also had the chance to finally see it performed in May and I loved it. That version set the story in the 1990s instead of the 1890s, but the text was exactly the same, which reminded me that romantic comedies really haven’t changed too much.

This play also contains many of Wilde’s most infamous lines. Here’s a few of my favorites:

“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”

“To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”

“I'll bet you anything you like that half an hour after they have met, they will be calling each other sister.
Women only do that when they have called each other a lot of other things first.”

BOTTOM LINE: Read it! It’s a quick and delightful play. ( )

Witty and so clever. I do love when societal norms are questioned. I watched the movie shortly after with Micheal Redgrave and thought it was excellent as well. The best part was the ending with Ms. Prism; she was just as I imagined her in my mind. ( )

Even though I have seen and read the play a few times, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNEST bears up under repeated scrutiny. The performance by L.A. Theater Works (starring James Marsters) had me laughing aloud, delivering the lines with excellent comic timing and all the appropriate absurdity. As an audio-only performance, the listener might expect to feel cheated in not being able to see the actors, but it's a testament to Oscar Wilde's writing and the performers that nothing was lost in this rendition. My only quibble was the inclusion of an interview with the director afterward:It simply wasn't interesting. ( )

I would dearly love to see this performed by the artists of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. What? They only do Shakespeare? Well...

Dear LTSF,

Please consider changing your name to the Lake Tahoe Wilde Shakespeare Festival, so that you can occasionally work some non-Shakespeare into your playbill. I respectfully request that you begin with this play. Here is my thinking:

1. The Importance of Being Earnest has a plot that clearly pays tribute to some of Shakespeare's favorite formulas, such as mistaken identity in stereo (Jack-Ernest and Algernon-Ernest), characters falling madly in love without due provocation, and the contemplation of 'What's In a Name' (unlike a rose, an Ernest by any other name does not smell as sweet).

2. As a change of pace from Shakespeare's usual hearty banquet of ribald innuendo, Wilde cleverly serves up a delectable Victorian high tea replete with satire sandwiches and mockery muffins. A few examples of the Wilde wit:

"I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever."

"Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die."

"To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which I think is never advisable."

3. Just imagine the promotional t-shirt possibilities: "Shakespeare goes Wilde" (image of the two playwrights in Victorian garb, clinking glasses of champagne), etc.

Best,
Kat ( )

I cannot eat muffins in an agitated manner, or I'll get butter on my cuffs. ( )