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'The Importance of Being Earnest' Review

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​​ The Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde's most well-known and best-loved play, as well as being an enormous success in his lifetime. For many people, it is the apogee of Wilde's work. Like Wilde, the play is the very embodiment of fin de sieclé British dandyism.

However, this seemingly frivolous play has a much darker side. Its critique of Victorian society--though delivered in a velvet glove--is every inch an iron fist. The play is a satire both of the hypocrisies of the society in which Wilde lived, and the damaging effect that these hypocrisies can have on the souls of those live under their rule. Wilde was to become one of those souls shortly after the first performance of the play when he initiated a libel trial that was to lead to his imprisonment for being a homosexual.​

Overview of  The Importance of Being Earnest

The play is based around two young men, one of whom is an upright young man called Jack who lives in the country. However, in order to escape the drudgery of his highly conservative lifestyle, he has created an alter-ego, Ernest, who has all kinds of reprobate fun in London. Jack says he often has to visit his poor brother Ernest, which gives him his opportunity to escape his boring life and have fun with his good friend, Algernon.

However, Algernon comes to suspect that Jack is leading a double life when he finds a personal message in one of Jack’s cigarette cases. Jack makes a clean breast of his life, including the fact that he has a young and attractive ward by the name of Cecily Cardew back on his estate in Gloucestershire. This piques Algernon's interest and, uninvited, he turns up on the estate pretending to be Jack’s brother--the reprobate Ernest--in order to woo Cecily.

In the meantime, Jack's fiancée, (and Algernon's cousin) Gwendolen has also arrived, and Jack admits to her that he is, in fact, not called Ernest, but is called Jack. Algernon, despite his better judgment, also confesses to Cecily that his name is not Ernest either. This causes a good deal of trouble in our heroes' love lives, as both women have a rather strange attachment to the name Ernest, and cannot consider marrying anyone who does not go by that name. There is another impediment to the marriages. Gwendolen's mother, Lady Bracknell, will not countenance her daughter marrying someone of Jack's social status (he was an orphan who was found by his adoptive parents in a handbag at King's Cross Station).

As Jack is Cecily's guardian, he will not allow her to marry Algernon unless his aunt, Lady Bracknell changes her mind. This seemingly irresolvable conundrum becomes brilliantly solved when, on inspection of the handbag, Lady Bracknell reveals that Algernon's brother had become lost in just such a handbag and that Jack must, in actuality, be that lost child. What’s more, the child had been christened Ernest. The play ends with a prospect of two very happy marriages.

The Importance of Being Earnest combines a labyrinthine plot, the seemingly irresolvable narrative of a farce, and some of the most comic and wittiest lines ever written . It is, as can probably be surmised from its extraordinary to-ings and fro-ings and its incredibly unlikely resolution, is not to be taken as a serious drama. Indeed, the characters and the setting lack any real depth; they are, first and foremost, vessels for Wilde’s witticisms lampooning the shallow and roots-obsessed society in which he lived. 

However, this is not to the play's detriment – the audience is treated to some of the most sparkling verbal wit ever seen. Whether luxuriating in paradox or simply in the ridiculousness created by the plot that Wilde has set in motion, the play is at its best when it is portraying supposedly serious things in an extremely trivial matter. 

However, this seeming piece of fluff is enormously influential and is actually a destructive critique of the social mores of the times. The emphasis that is put in the play on surfaces--names, where and how people were brought up, the way that they dress--belies a yearning for something which is more substantial. Wilde can be credited, by producing a piece of polished decadence, with contributing to the destruction of a class-based, surface-obsessed society. Wilde's play seems to say, look beneath the surface, try and find the real people stifled beneath social norms.

Brilliant, inventive, witty and--when performed--absolutely hilarious, Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest , is a landmark in the history of Western theater, and probably that writer’s greatest achievement.

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Book Review: The Importance Of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

By: Author Laura

Posted on Published: 7th October 2014  - Last updated: 10th January 2024

Categories Book Reviews , Books

Title: The Importance of Being Earnest Author: Oscar Wilde Genre: Play, Comedy, Farce First published: 14th February 1895

The Importance of Being Earnest Summary

Oscar Wilde’s madcap farce about mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers entanglements still delights readers more than a century after its 1895 publication and premiere performance. The rapid-fire wit and eccentric characters of The Importance of Being Earnest have made it a mainstay of the high school curriculum for decades.

Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are both in love with the same mythical suitor. Jack Worthing has wooed Gewndolen as Ernest while Algernon has also posed as Ernest to win the heart of Jack’s ward, Cecily.

When all four arrive at Jack’s country home on the same weekend the “rivals” to fight for Ernest’s undivided attention and the “Ernests” to claim their beloveds pandemonium breaks loose. Only a senile nursemaid and an old, discarded hand-bag can save the day!

The Important of Being Earnest Characters

• John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing, J.P.
• Algernon Moncrieff
• Gwendolen Fairfax
• Cecily Cardew
• Lady Augusta Bracknell
• Miss Letitia Prism
• Reverend Canon Chasuble, D.D.

The Important of Being Earnest Review

 I was under the impression that The Importance of Being Earnest was a serious piece of work for some reason but I couldn’t have been more wrong. This play, written by Oscar Wilde, is incredibly funny farcical comedy that was written in the late 19th century.

It follows the story of two men, John and Algernon who both have separate identities for when they are in town and when they are in the country. When John is in town, he goes by the name Ernest and claims to be in love with a young lady named Gwendolen, whom he wishes to marry. The problem is that the name Ernest is of great importance to Gwendolen, but of course, it isn’t his real name.

Algernon usually resides in town but upon hearing that his friend John has a young ward by the name of Cecily in the country, he takes on the persona of John’s fake brother ‘Ernest’, and goes to visit John’s house in the country. As you can imagine, numerous funny incidences occur as there is more than one man named ‘Ernest’ and people are not who they say they are.

This play is rather short and I managed to read the entire play in about an hour. There are very few stage directions in The Importance of Being Earnest , but this play is all about what people are saying, rather than what they are doing. Everything the characters say is either nonsense or completely backwards which is very funny for the reader.

I must admit that even I got a little confused with all the identity switches but this short and sharp play keeps you entertained the entire way through and laugh-out-loud funny. Reading this play was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and I would imagine that seeing this played out on stage would be even better. I haven’t read any of Wilde’s other plays but I can’t imagine them getting much better, or funnier, than this.

Of course, whilst it is incredibly funny, if you read between the lines this is a satire of society and social commentary  with Wilde making remarks on love affairs and marriage in the 19th century as well as the vanity of the upper classes. Of course everything the characters say is quite ridiculous and you absolutely cannot take them seriously and yet I suppose the idea of these characters being real people is not funny at all.

All in all, Wilde is a master and The Importance of Being Earnest is a must read/watch for all. Having read the play, I am now desperate to see it performed on stage which will no doubt be down right hilarious. This play is very short and easy to read so there are absolutely no excuses. Although written over a century ago, this witty play is a timeless classic that even modern readers will appreciate.

Buy The Importance of Being Earnest

Want a more profound analysis of Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest? I’d recommend the following study guides: Cliff Notes: The Importance of Being Earnest York Notes: The Importance of Being Earnest

If you like the sound of this, check out these reviews: The Sea Close By by Albert Camus The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes How to Be Both by Ali Smith The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Editor of What’s Hot?

Donah @ SweetJellyBean

Thursday 7th of April 2016

Ok you did such an amazing job with this review, I'm actually considering to read this, too! And I'm definitely not a book person haha.

Charli-Blogs

Sunday 3rd of April 2016

I always think books written in this era are going to be serious and not interesting to me... but after your review and finding out this was a comedy - I may need to change my thinking!

Not read any of Oscar Wilde's books but this sounds funny and a must read

Stella Kashmoney

Saturday 2nd of April 2016

Lovely review. The book looks and sounds nice.

Alice Project: Wanderlust

Great review. I haven't read this book since school but it's inspired me to pick it up again

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Book Review

The importance of being earnest.

• Oscar Wilde
• Historical , Play , Romance

Readability Age Range

• Penguin Classics

Year Published

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine and is a humorous classic.

Plot Summary

To escape his country home and a young ward named Cecily, Jack Worthing creates a fictional brother named Earnest, whom he must visit often. When in town, Jack actually uses the name Earnest for himself. He’s forced to admit his deception to his friend Algernon (Algy) early in the story, and Algy visits the Worthing estate posing as brother Earnest so he can meet Cecily. Jack proposes marriage to Algy’s cousin Gwendolen and returns home determined to end his imaginary brother so he can be an honest man for his beloved. Gwendolen knows Jack as Earnest, and Cecily knows Algy as Earnest. The women meet over tea and believe they’re fighting for the same man. Jack and Algy each set up appointments with a local clergyman to be christened Earnest. In the end, Jack and Algy admit their true identities. Jack receives Gwendolen’s mother’s approval for marriage, and the couples appear headed toward a life of “happily ever after.”

Christian Beliefs

Jack and Algernon call on the Reverend Canon Chasuble to christen them so that their Christian names will be Earnest. The reverend agrees, and when Jack is hesitant about immersion, Chasuble suggests that, given the weather, sprinkling is all that’s necessary or advisable. Chasuble also boasts about his “manna in the wilderness” sermon, which can be adapted to any situation, whether happy or sad. Cecily and Gwendolen express amazement that Jack and Algernon would go through such a “fearful ordeal” as being christened simply to win their hearts. Overall, critics feel Wilde was jabbing at what he perceived to be the shallowness of Victorian-era religion.

Other Belief Systems

Wilde uses this farcical comedy to mock the manners and social decorum of the period. (It’s worth noting that Wilde’s own beliefs proved quite contrary to the day’s social norms. The author was known for his participation in the Aesthetic Movement — a faction of writers and artists critical of the moralistic Victorian culture. Wilde wore garish clothing, behaved in outlandish ways and was eventually jailed for practicing homosexuality.)

Authority Roles

Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen’s mother, represents Victorian upper-class society (or Oscar Wilde’s mockery thereof). She asks Jack strange, convoluted question about his views and background as she tries to determine whether he’s suitable for her daughter. Jack serves as Cecily’s guardian, setting a questionable example for her with his lies and fabrications about a wayward brother. Miss Prism, a family servant, reveals in the end that she accidentally left baby Jack in a handbag at the train station years earlier.

Profanity & Violence

Sexual content, discussion topics.

Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books .

Additional Comments

You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected] .

Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

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• Annotated Full Text
• Literary Period: Victorian
• Publication Date: 1895
• Flesch-Kincaid Level: 5
• Approx. Reading Time: 1 hour and 42 minutes

The Importance of Being Earnest

"A Trivial Comedy for Serious People" Oscar Wilde’s "The Importance of Being Earnest" is an extremely entertaining, farcical comedy driven by mistaken identities and bantering dialogue. It follows the story of two men who assume the identity “Ernest” in order to avoid their social obligations and pursue their love interests. Over a series of humorous bumbles, that which is serious is made trivial and that which is trivial is made serious. This play is a satire that functions within Victorian social customs in order to criticize the very institutions it depicts. Wilde particularly mocks earnestness, an extremely important value in Victorian society, as no one seems to have a particular conviction towards anything. Many critics have read Wilde’s own experience with a double life in the play’s themes. After The Importance debuted, Wilde was accused of homosexual activities, subsequently imprisoned, and then exiled. While his work was once shunned for the playwright’s so-called “indiscretions,” his clever dialogue and dry, situational humor have become the foundation for modern British comedy and shows like The Office or Arrested Development. The Importance of Being Earnest plays with humor, absurdity, and serious social critique to show the audience that the “truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

Table of Contents

• The Persons in the Play
• The Scenes of the Play
• Character Analysis
• Foreshadowing
• Historical Context
• Literary Devices
• Rhetorical Devices

Study Guide

• Oscar Wilde Biography

Teaching Resources

• The Importance of Being Earnest Teaching Guide

The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar wilde, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

The play opens as Algernon Moncrief plays the piano in his fashionable London flat, while his butler Lane prepares a tea service for Algernon’s Aunt Augusta , ( Lady Bracknell ), and her daughter, Gwendolen Fairfax , whom Algernon expects to arrive shortly. Surprisingly, Lane announces the arrival of Algernon’s friend Mr. Ernest Worthing (Jack) .

Algernon greets his friend, who has been in the country . Jack discloses to Algernon that he has returned to town to propose to Gwendolen, whom he has been courting. Upon hearing this news Algernon confronts Jack about a woman named Cecily .

Jack initially denies the existence of this woman, but Algernon produces a cigarette case that he left behind the last time they dined together. The case is engraved with an inscription: “From little Cecily, with her fondest love to her dear Uncle Jack.” Faced with such evidence Jack comes clean, revealing that he has been leading a double life. Cecily is actually his ward. “Jack” is the name he goes by in the country, while “ Ernest ” is his alias in the city. He shares this name with his fictional brother, a mischievous character, whose scandalous lifestyle frequently calls Jack back to the city to straighten out his “brother’s” affairs. In reality, Jack uses “Ernest” as an excuse to escape his responsibilities in the country and pursue a life of pleasure in the city.

Jack’s charade confirms Algernon’s suspicion that his friend is a practiced “ Bunburyist ,” or a person who uses deception to shirk his duties. Algernon reveals that he is also an expert “Bunburyist,” having coined the term after his fictional, invalid friend, “ Bunbury ,” whose poor health frequently calls him to his so-called friend’s bedside.

Shortly thereafter, Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen arrive at Algernon’s flat. Algernon distracts Lady Bracknell, while Jack proposes to Gwendolen. She accepts on the account that she has always been enamored of the name “Ernest;” she makes it clear that she could never marry a man of any other name. This alarms Jack, whose composure becomes even more unsettled when Lady Bracknell bursts onto the scene, interrupting his proposal.

When Gwendolen announces her engagement, Lady Bracknell clears the room so that she can question Jack on his living arrangements, finances, and family relations. Upon learning that Jack has no parents and was adopted by Mr. Thomas Cardew , who found the infant Jack in a handbag left at a coatroom in Victoria station , she forbids Gwendolen from marrying Jack and leaves the flat in huff. Jack and Gwendolen bid each other adieu, while Algernon, intrigued by Jack’s young ward, makes plans to visit his friend “Bunbury.”

Act II begins at Jack’s country estate in Hertfordshire, where Miss Prism is failing to focus Cecily’s attention onto her German studies. The rector Dr. Chausible arrives and invites Miss Prism on a walk. While Cecily is alone, Merriman announces the arrival of Mr. Ernest Worthing . It is Algernon masquerading as Jack’s brother “Ernest,” but Cecily believes him to be the real deal. Shortly thereafter, Jack arrives, dressed in mourning clothes, because his brother “Ernest” has just died. When Jack learns that Algernon is at the estate pretending to be “Ernest,” he is infuriated, but must keep up appearances so that his own lies and deceptions will not be revealed.

Meanwhile, Algernon, smitten by Cecily’s beauty and charm, proposes to her. She is not at all surprised because according to her diary they have been engaged for three months. She relates to him their love story and reveals that she has always dreamed of marrying a man named “Ernest.”

While Algernon rushes off to find Dr. Chausible, Gwendolen arrives to pay Jack an unexpected visit. Cecily invites her into the garden for tea, where she announces her engagement to Ernest Worthing, but Gwendolen counters that she is in fact Ernest’s fiancée. The ladies fling snide remarks at each other before Jack and Algernon arrive separately, each having gone to see Dr. Chausible about being christened “Ernest.”

The two women realize that Jack and Algernon have deceived them. They demand to know the whereabouts of the elusive “Ernest.” Jack reveals that “Ernest’” is not a real person, but a fiction, angering Cecily and Gwendolen even more.

In Act III Cecily and Gwendolen confront Jack and Algernon about their lies. Jack discloses that he assumed the name of “Ernest” so that he could visit Gwendolen often and Algernon admits that he pretended to be “Ernest” in order to meet Cecily. These explanations satisfy the two women, but they only fully forgive Jack and Algernon after the two men reveal that they are to be christened “Ernest” that afternoon.

Lady Bracknell breaks this moment of bliss by arriving to collect Gwendolen. Gwendolen reaffirms her engagement to Jack, while Algernon announces his engagement to Cecily. Lady Bracknell reiterates her disapproval of Jack and also objects to Cecily, until Jack reveals that Cecily is the heiress to a great fortune.

Interest piqued, Lady Bracknell advocates for Algernon’s engagement, but Jack, as Cecily’s ward, will not consent to the match until Lady Bracknell approves of his engagement to Gwendolen.

Lady Bracknell refuses, but turns her attention to Miss Prism, accusing her of losing her sister’s infant son twenty-eight years ago. Miss Prism confesses, explaining that she misplaced the boy in a handbag in a coatroom at Victoria station. Jack figures out that he was that abandoned child and presents the handbag as proof. Jack and ensemble turn to the manor’s library for verification finding an Army List that lists Jack’s father as “Mr. Ernest John Moncrief.” Jack’s real name is indeed Ernest; he has found a family name in Moncrief, a name and bloodline he shares with his real younger brother Algernon; and he has learned the “vital importance” of living up to his family name, as he embraces his betrothed.

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The Importance of Being Earnest Review

Monica Ronayne '25 , Contributing Writer | April 13, 2023

Phoenix stages.com

The Importance of Being Earnest, displaying many themes of love in this literary classic.

Love is shown in four different ways; Philia (friendship, brotherly), Eros (romantic), Storge (affection), and Agape (love for God). The four pillars that hold up society’s interpretation of love are made fun of in the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. 

Wilde uses 5 main characters (John Worthing, Algernon Moncrief, Lady Bracknell, Cecily Cardew, and Gwendolen Fairfax) to show the viewers his ideology on love, specifically how love should be open and not controlled. Wilde cleverly makes the characters embody each pillar of love. 

Algernon and John represent Philia. Algy and John are classified as friends who don’t trust each other to marry their own relatives until the end when viewers find out they were brothers all along. Their relationship not only makes fun of the meaning behind Philia but also the root of the word meaning “brotherly love”. 

Cecily and Algernon represent Eros, but their relationship of claiming to love each other even before their eyes met for the first time shows how important love is for Wilde. Wilde uses most of the play to show that people are claiming to love one another without knowing the simplistic information about each other, their love was fake and mislabeled. 

Storge is a little more unclear but John easily tries to point fingers at Cecily’s governess, Miss Prism, as his mother after discovering Miss Prism stole him as a baby. He tries to create a sense of motherly love for him but all become surprised and uncomfortable since one can not create something that was not there. 

Lastly, John and Algernon seek to become christened which should represent Agape love. Although both characters go out of their way to seek appointments, they are only getting christened for the benefit of their love lives and to create a false reality of their identity. No love for God was shown. 

All the characters act seriously about love throughout the play, but without realizing it, they have all created false senses of love and go against Wilde’s idea of the “Importance of Being Earnest”. For all the hopeless romantics who truly believe love is possible, avoid breaking your heart by reading The Importance of Being Earnest . 

By Monica Ronayne ‘25, Contributing Writer    

[email protected]  

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The Importance of Being Earnest

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What to Know

Oliver Parker's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's classic play is breezy entertainment, helped by an impressive cast, but it also suffers from some peculiar directorial choices that ultimately dampen the film's impact.

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Tv/streaming, collections, chaz's journal, great movies, contributors, the importance of being earnest.

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Be careful what you ask for; you might get it. Two weeks ago I deplored the lack of wit in "Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones," which has not one line of quotable dialogue. Now here is "The Importance of Being Earnest," so thick with wit it plays like a reading from Bartlett's Familiar Quotations . I will demonstrate. I have here the complete text of the Oscar Wilde play, which I have downloaded from the Web. I will hit "Page Down" 20 times and quote the first complete line from the top of the screen: All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. Now the question is, does this sort of thing appeal to you? Try these: Really, if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness. It appeals to me. I yearn for a world in which every drawing room is a stage, and we but players on it. But does anyone these days know what a drawing room is? The Universal Studios theme park has decided to abolish its characters dressed like the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy, because "a majority of people no longer recognize them." I despair. How can people recognize wit who begin with only a half-measure of it? Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" is a comedy constructed out of thin air. It is not really about anything. There are two romances at the center, but no one much cares whether the lovers find happiness together. Their purpose is to make elegant farce out of mistaken identities, the class system, mannerisms, egos, rivalries, sexual warfare and verbal playfulness.

Oliver Parker's film begins with music that is a little too modern for the period, circa 1895, following the current fashion in anachronistic movie scores. It waltzes us into the story of two men who are neither one named Ernest and who both at various times claim to be. Jack Worthing ( Colin Firth ) calls himself Jack in the country and Ernest in town. In the country, he is the guardian of the charming Miss Cecily Cardew ( Reese Witherspoon ), who is the granddaughter of the elderly millionaire who adopted Jack after finding him as an infant in a handbag he was handed in error at the cloakroom in Victoria Station. When Jack grows bored with the country, he cites an imaginary younger brother named Ernest who lives in London and must be rescued from scrapes with the law.

This imaginary person makes perfect sense to Jack's friend Algernon Moncrieff ( Rupert Everett ), who lives in town but has a fictitious friend named Bunbury who lives in the country and whose ill health provides Algernon an excuse to get out of town. I have gone into such detail about these names and alternate identities because the entire play is constructed out of such silliness, and to explain all of it would require--well, the play.

In town Jack is much besotted by Gwendolen Fairfax ( Frances O'Connor ), daughter of the formidable Lady Bracknell ( Judi Dench ), Algernon's aunt, who is willing to consider Jack as a suitor for the girl but nonplussed to learn that he has no people--none at all--and was indeed left in a bag at the station. Thus her remark about his carelessness in losing both parents.

Algernon in the meantime insinuates himself into the country estate where young Cecily is being educated under the watchful eye of Miss Prism ( Anna Massey ), the governess; eventually all of the characters gather at the Manor House, Woolton, where there's some confusion since Algernon has taken the name Ernest for his visit and proposed to Cecily, so that when Cecily meets Gwendolen, they both believe they are engaged to Ernest although Cecily of course doesn't know that in town Gwendolen knows Jack as Ernest.

But now I have been lured into the plot again. The important thing about "The Importance" is that all depends on the style of the actors, and Oliver Parker's film is well cast. Reese Witherspoon, using an English accent that sounds convincing to me, is charming as Jack's tender ward, who of course falls for Algernon. She is a silly, flighty girl, just right for Algernon, for whom romance seems valuable primarily as a topic of conversation. Frances O'Connor is older and more sensuous as Gwendolen, and gently encourages the shy Jack to argue his case ("Mr. Worthing, what have you got to say to me?"). Judi Dench keeps a stern eye on the would-be lovers, and a strong hand on the tiller.

"The Importance of Being Earnest" is above all an exercise in wit. There is nothing to be learned from it, no moral, no message. It adopts what one suspects was Wilde's approach to sex--more fun to talk about than to do. As Algernon observes, romance dies when a proposal is accepted: "The very essence of romance is uncertainty." Wilde takes this as his guide. When the play's uncertainties have all been exhausted, the play ends. The last line ("I've now realized for the first time in my life the vital importance of being earnest") takes on an interesting spin if we know that "earnest" was a vernacular term for "gay" in 1895. Thus the closing line may subvert the entire play, although not to the surprise of anyone who has been paying attention.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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The Importance Of Being Earnest (2002)

Rated PG for mild sensuality

100 minutes

Rupert Everett as Algernon Moncrieff

Colin Firth as Jack Worthing

Reese Witherspoon as Cecily Cardew

Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell

Frances O'Connor as Gwendolen Fairfax

Tom Wilkinson as Rev. Chasuble

Anna Massey as Miss Prism

Edward Fox as Lane

Written and directed by

• Oliver Parker

Based on the play by

• Oscar Wilde

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The Importance of Being Earnest

In their most self-referential and conceptually ambitious show yet, Bloomshed questions the process of adaptation itself

Time Out says

I remember the first time I saw a Bloomshed show. It was Paradise Lost at Northcote Town Hall back in 2022. John Milton was God in an oversized Pope hat and a robe painted a dazzling green. Adam was a ditzy himbo and Eve a ditsier bimbo in ’80s jazzercise gear. 

It was my first glimpse into what has become a famous formula for the acclaimed Melbourne-based troupe: take a canonical text and tear it apart with razor sharp satire and camp spectacle. Since 2012, the company has been reimagining classics with productions as absurdly entertaining as they are thought-provoking. You’re throwing dodgeballs at Blanche DuBois in A Dodgeball Named Desire to rethink the age-old beef between sport and art . You’re watching a pig from George Orwell’s Animal Farm face a senate enquiry. You’re laughing your way to a deeper understanding of art as much as these specific pieces of art.  

The Importance of Being Earnest is a surprising misstep from the audacious troupe, but it’s an ambitious one. The lights come up on Oscar Wilde (a suitably droll James Jackson ) asleep in a decadent Victorian chambre with an erection threatening to pull the roof off fortyfivedownstairs . It’s typical Bloomshed: deliciously dumb and bawdy satire supported by simple yet magical stagecraft. It’s also a knowing wink to an audience who’d expect nothing less from the bombastic company tackling our most famous hedonist. The show soon takes aim at these very expectations, becoming something like an anti- Bloomshed Bloomshed show. The result has all the self-referentiality of Hannah Gadsby’s Nannette , just with less of the finesse.

Wilde spots us and laments what has been done to his ‘masterpiece’ or what will be done, whether by adaptations like this or by the audience back when it premiered in 1895. After all The Importance of Being Earnest, while being Wilde’s biggest success, also signalled his downfall. Opening night was marred by a plot to ‘out’ him by the mother of his then-lover that would soon lead to an accusation of ‘gross indecency’ and his imprisonment.

It's hard to imagine Wilde’s famously light-hearted farce framed by this very real tragedy. For Bloomshed, it’s also not the only thing that seems contradictory about the show and the legacies of its author. What do we make of the fact that the affair at the heart of Wilde’s trail was with a man seventeen-years his junior? Or that Wilde could be as elitist and morally bankrupt as those he so expertly skewers on stage? What responsibility do those who adapt his work have to these imperfections? What do we ask of contemporary adaptations of classics – complete fidelity and absolute respect for their creators, or a complete overhaul? 

The first half of the show boasts a surprising fidelity to Wilde’s original play as it tries to reckon with these questions. Jack Worthing ( Hayley Edwards ) tells the idle bachelor Algernon (played by Jackson) about ‘Earnest’; the false moniker he’s been using to woo the virtuous Gwendolen Fairfax ( Elizabeth Brennan ). 

The small but strong cast (completed by Tom Molyneux ) all commit to an upper-class Victorian drawl. But Wilde’s complex aphorisms and turns of phrase, as well as the quick-fire play of names and intersecting storylines for which The Importance of Being Earnest is known for are hard to follow at the best of times. Things are made more confusing because we don’t know how much these machinations are important to Bloomshed’s reimagining and its wider commentary. Some choices read as simply a hammier, slightly more exaggerated way to stage the show, rather than a way to reframe its themes and witticisms to comment on something new. 

A noticeably silent audience on opening night seemed perplexed as if waiting for Bloomshed’s satire to begin and Wilde’s to end, all the while quietly amused by on stage costume changes and witty line deliveries that the company has pulled off better in the past. There are still the classic Bloomshed staples here to enjoy: a cucumber sandwich food fight, confetti guns and spontaneous dance numbers. Brennan is as funny as ever as Cecily, and costumes by Samantha Hastings and Nathan Burmeister are decadent and eye-catchingly unique (Lady Bracknell’s technicolour-patchwork gown was a particular highlight). But these moments and design elements lack the creative ambition that typifies the company, and crucially, seem only incidentally connected to Wilde and the complicated tragedy of his life.

Maybe that’s the point. In seeing our expectations for classic Bloomshed debauchery dashed, we’re forced to reflect on the reasons the reality of Oscar Wilde’s legacy simply can’t accommodate them. But the show has stretched itself thin between biting but fun jabs at Wilde’s legacy and biography (which include clear references to paedophilia and grooming) and more serious questions about what we need from adaptations of classics.

We leave this intriguing experiment from the iconic company with good ideas and hard questions but no clear sense of what to do with either. Laugh, maybe? Eat a cucumber sandwich? I’m still unsure.

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Dates and times.

Tue, 6 Aug 2024 fortyfivedownstairs 7:30 pm Various

Wed, 7 Aug 2024 fortyfivedownstairs 7:30 pm Various

Thu, 8 Aug 2024 fortyfivedownstairs 7:30 pm Various

Fri, 9 Aug 2024 fortyfivedownstairs 7:30 pm Various

Sat, 10 Aug 2024 fortyfivedownstairs 7:30 pm Various

Sun, 11 Aug 2024 fortyfivedownstairs 5:00 pm Various

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The Importance of Being Earnest Paperback – June 14, 2022

The Importance of Being Earnest , in full The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People , play in three acts by Oscar Wilde, performed in 1895 and published in 1899. A satire of Victorian social hypocrisy, the witty play is considered Wilde’s greatest dramatic achievement.

Jack Worthing is a fashionable young man who lives in the country with his ward, Cecily Cardew. He has invented a rakish brother named Ernest whose supposed exploits give Jack an excuse to travel to London periodically to rescue him. Jack is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax, the cousin of his friend Algernon Moncrieff. Gwendolen, who thinks Jack’s name is Ernest, returns his love, but her mother, Lady Bracknell, objects to their marriage because Jack is an orphan who was found in a handbag at Victoria Station.

• Print length 112 pages
• Language English
• Publication date June 14, 2022
• Dimensions 6 x 0.26 x 9 inches
• ISBN-13 979-8835757169
• See all details

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B3J8PJM4
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (June 14, 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 112 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8835757169
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.4 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.26 x 9 inches
• #9,289 in Literature & Fiction (Books)

About the author

Oscar wilde.

Oscar Fingall O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford where, a disciple of Pater, he founded an aesthetic cult. In 1884 he married Constance Lloyd, and his two sons were born in 1885 and 1886.

His novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), and social comedies Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), established his reputation. In 1895, following his libel action against the Marquess of Queesberry, Wilde was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for homosexual conduct, as a result of which he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), and his confessional letter De Profundis (1905). On his release from prison in 1897 he lived in obscurity in Europe, and died in Paris in 1900.

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