The Importance of Being Earnest

Synopsis

Classic turn-of-the-century comedy of social manners. A very complicated plot that includes the famous "A Handbag!" line .. Jack Worthing is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax, daughter of the redoubtable Lady Bracknell, and cousin of his friend Algernon. They cannot wed until the mystery of his parentage (he was found in a handbag on Victoria Station) is resolved. Algy discovers that Jack has a pretty young ward, Cecily, living at the Manor and visits her pretending to be Jack's fictitious (and wicked) brother Ernest.

Our Review:

25 January 2001

With Patricia Routledge starring as the imperious Lady Bracknell, this revival of The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde's greatest comedy, boasts unbeatable casting. Indeed, it’s difficult to envisage anyone else in contemporary theatre more tailored for the part. An imposing presence resplendent in royal purple – a credit to Emma Williams the costume supervisor and Sara Jane Drew the wardrobe mistress – the redoubtable Routledge dispenses her character's societal wisdom, whilst revealing Bracknell's appalling snobbery in resonant, yet quavering tones. She commands our attention throughout.

Wilde's tale of identity lost and found contains a plethora of celebrated aphorisms, caustic observations, and hilarious counter-intuitive statements. Its marvellous machinations are so familiar as to preclude recounting here.

Theo Fraser Steele's Algernon is a mischievous fellow who walks over sofas and dangles his hat in strange places, but he t...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com - 6 April 2001:

A HANDBAG!!!! Never stops being entertainment of the highest order. Oscar Wilde, what a wit. Think he would've qute liked Hyacinth Bucket too....

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