Preview
Production Season
Fall 2017
Dates of Performance
November 16-18 and 19, 2017
Production Staff
Written by Oscar Wilde; Directed by M. Susan Anthony
Recommended Citation
Theatre, DePauw, "The Importance of Being Earnest" (2017). Past DePauw Theatre Seasons. 57, Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University.
https://scholarship.depauw.edu/commtheatre_past/57
Keywords
undergraduate theatre
Play Summary
Join Algy and Jack, two dashing (and clueless) men about town, and Cecily and Gwendolyn, two charming (and ruthless) young women bent upon matrimony. Add an orphan infant in a handbag, two sickly imaginary dependents, and the infamous Lady Bracknell – and you have The Importance of Being Earnest. Oscar Wilde’s farcical comedy, subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” has delighted audiences since its premiere in 1895. No one is what he (or she) seems in Earnest – and Wilde’s scathing satire mocks social conventions, pomp and pretense – and marriage. In particular, The Importance of Being Earnest skewers stereotypical gender relations and introduces the “New Woman” in a frothy comedy often deemed “the greatest English stage comedy of all time.”