Theatre News

National Theatre’s The Importance of Being Earnest with Ncuti Gatwa, Sharon D Clarke and more to be released in cinemas

Oscar Wilde’s classic comes to the National Theatre this autumn, but will hit the big screen next year

Alex Wood

Alex Wood

| London |

4 September 2024

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The cast of The Importance of Being Earnest, © National Theatre

The National Theatre has announced that its production of Oscar Wilde’s comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest, will be broadcast in cinemas in 2025.

Set to grace the Lyttelton Theatre from 20 November 2024 to 25 January 2025 and helmed by director Max Webster in his National Theatre debut, the production’s cast features Richard Cant (Stan & Ollie, Mary Queen of Scots) as Reverend Canon Chasuble, Sharon D Clarke (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Doctor Who) as the iconic Lady Bracknell, Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who, Sex Education) as Algernon Moncrieff, Amanda Lawrence (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Angels in America) as Miss Prism, Hugh Skinner (W1A, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) as Jack Worthing, Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́ (Rain Dogs, Blues for an Alabama Sky) as Gwendolen Fairfax and Eliza Scanlen (Little Women, Sharp Objects) as Cecily Cardew alongside Julian Bleach (Doctor Who, The Grinning Man) as Merriman / Lane.

The show will be filmed live ahead of a worldwide 2025 cinema release from 20 February 2025, with a list of venues available on the NTLive website.

It will have set and costume design by Rae Smith, lighting design by Jon Clark, sound design by Nicola T Chang, composition by DJ Walde, and movement direction by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille. Alastair Coomer handles casting.

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