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OSCAR WILDE'S THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
DIRECTED BY ELLIE KING
"AN IRREVERENT & OUTRAGEOUSLY FUNNY RENDITION"
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST debuted at the Surrey Arts Centre and then played for a two-week run at the McPherson Playhouse in Victoria. It is produced by Vancouver's Rocket Norton and directed by Ellie King. Born in Liverpool, England, King is a master of British Theatre and specializes in classic British comedy. She emphasizes the humour and entertainment values of The Importance of Being Earnest. Ellie King's professional cast of eight sizzles with comedic chemistry. They deliver some of theatre history's best dialogue with hilarious results.
Oscar Wilde's greatest play proudly maintains its position as one of the funniest and most often performed plays ever written in the English language and yet the piece still resists categorizing. The Importance of Being Earnest is a farce and a romantic comedy of manners and a merciless satire on Victorian society. It's full of both skewed reality and genuine surrealism; it's a mere bubble but with quite remarkable depths, and above all it sparkles with witty dialogue by elegant people. Wilde peoples his world with merciless caricatures of the society in which he lived and worked; LADY BRACKNELL, the formidable son-in-law hunting dragon; GWENDOLYN, her vacuous but business-minded daughter whose suitor, JACK WORTHING (aka EARNEST) who was found in a handbag; ALGERNON MONCRIEFF, Jack's young wastrel friend who gets into the most awful scrapes; LANE the servant who actually runs everything; CECILY CARDEW, Jack's spoilt ward; MISS PRISM, her governess with a past, DR. CHASUBLE, the confused but well meaning local vicar and MERRIMAN, Jack's country butler who constantly seems on the verge of extinction. All are comic creations of the highest caliber able to reduce us to gales of laughter within moments of making their acquaintance. After an hour or so of visiting these people and living in Oscar Wilde's delightful but improbable world, it's not difficult to see why this most essentially English of all comedies retains its #1 position even after 105 years (and counting).
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde himself, "Anyone who goes through life without knowing the Importance of Being Earnest will have a very miserable time of it indeed".
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST is presented in Three Acts with one intermission after the 1st Act. The entire running time, including the 20 minute intermission, is two hours and ten minutes.