Mercury Theatre announces The Importance of Being Earnest revival and casting

Colchester’s Mercury Theatre has announced a revival of Oscar Wilde’s much-loved comedy The Importance of Being Earnest.

Under the helm of artistic director Ryan McBryde, the play will run from 1 to 16 March 2024.

Starring in the production will be Gillian Bevan (Holby City) as Mrs Bracknell, Elizabeth Bower (Doctors) as Miss Prism and Horrible Histories favourites Richard David-Caine as Jack Worthing and Harrie Hayes as Gwendolen Fairfax.

They will be joined on stage by Susannah Van Den Berg (Gypsy) as Lane / Merriman, Mateo Oxley (The Windsors) as Algernon Moncrieff, Claire Lee Shenfield (Once) as Cecily Cardew and Martin Miller (The Band) as Reverend Canon Chasuble.

McBryde commented: “We’re delighted to be launching our 2024 season with Wilde’s mirth-inducing masterpiece. Though it is without doubt one of the funniest plays in the English language, Earnest often gets branded as a frivolous farce. But when you scratch away the surface, the play is actually a scathing and subversive attack on the official order of English society, ridiculing our values and beliefs, demolishing the late 19th century’s social and moral attitudes. Wilde’s skewering of class, marriage, hereditary privileges, education, religion, and gender identity is actually a scorching social satire, as relevant today as it was to our Victorian ancestors.

“We’re working with designer Katie Lias to dispel the myth that Earnest is a fusty, dusty Victorian period piece. We’re envisaging our version of Earnest as a bright, colourful and vibrant English fantasia embracing a retro-chic aesthetic.”

Alongside McBryde and Lias (Bleak Expectations), the creative team includes Lucía Sánchez Roldán (Camp Albion) as lighting designer, Beth Duke (Wishmas) as sound designer, Marc Frankum (The Woman in Black) as casting director and Chani Merrell as assistant director.

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