The Importance of Being Earnest

H Street Playhouse, Washington, DC

About the Show

Oscar Wilde’s timeless tale of class and marriage both revels in and mocks the “double life.” The main character Jack creates an alter ego personality to indulge in pleasure outside of society’s mores. On one level, Wilde criticizes the moral hypocrisy of the British upper class. On another, he celebrates the inventiveness of creating an alter ego who is free to revel in pleasure. Both dualities are tested when thrust into the context of status, marriage, and love. Ironically, Wilde was similar to Britain’s elite — he was a closet homosexual who was married and had a child.

The play’s plot is full of twists and turns, and many characters actually possess gender qualities typical of the opposite sex. So, SCENA Theatre celebrates these dualities with cross-gender casting. Strong female characters are played by men; stylish, effeminate male characters are played by women. A simple engagement proposal turns into a comedy of errors, and what was initially certain becomes deliciously muddled in this production’s topsy-turvy world of gender bending. Further, this production is re-set in the roaring 1920s to further celebrate a liberating era where many women were free to act like men — smoking, drinking, and copulating.