The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar Wilde’s most popular play has been called the funniest in the English language. It’s certainly the most outrageously frivolous with intricate twists and turns, through which the characters move while they carry on sparkling conversations about life – and love. Algernon and Jack are in love with two delectable young women, both of whom have illogically sworn to marry only men named Ernest. And so the pretense – and the fun – begins. Although Wilde’s plot is wonderfully witty, his wit is serious, as he adroitly uses it to skewer the Victorian English upper class and utterly charm everyone else.