ORIGINAL PERFORMANCE CONDITIONS - COSTUME & STAGINGĪ few months ago, I visited the V&A museum and came across the actual costume that Lady Bracknell would have worn in 'The Importance Of Being Earnest.' As shown in the photo, it is a very grand dress.
Its cast included William Faversham as Algy, Henry Miller as Jack, Viola Allen as Gwendolen, and Ida Vernon as Lady Bracknell. The play's original Broadway production opened on 22 April 1895 at the Empire theatre, but closed after sixteen performances. The setting of the play begins in London for Act I and in Hertfordshire for Act II. VincentĪllan Aynesworth, who played Algernon Moncrieff, recalled to Hesketh Pearson that, "In my fifty-three years of acting, I never remember a greater triumph than that first night". Below the surface of the light, brittle comedy, however, is a serious subtext that takes aim at self-righteous moralism and hypocrisy, the very aspects of Victorian society.' Part satire, part comedy of manners, and part intellectual farce, this play seems to have nothing at stake because the world it presents is so blatantly and ostentatiously artificial. 'The Importance of Being Earnest was an early experiment in Victorian melodrama. The play closed after only 86 performances. The Importance of Being Earnest is also available in the collection Wilde: Four Plays.'The Importance of Being Earnest' was first produced on Valentines Day 1895, at St James's Theatre. The audience watching, according to one report, "included many members of the great and good, former cabinet ministers and privy councillors, as well as actors, writers, academics, and enthusiasts". Set Text: The Importance of Being Earnest is a set text for OCR English Literature A/AS Level, OCR Drama GCSE and for Edexcel (London) English Language and Literature A/AS Level. This edition in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series includes an introduction by Dan Rebellato. Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed in February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London. After further complications involving Jack's friend Algernon, who is also passing himself off as Earnest, Jack's true origins are revealed. Quizzed as to his origins by her aunt Lady Bracknell, Jack has to admit to being found in a handbag.
But Gwendolen has fallen in love with him as Earnest - and he with her. Jack Worthing pretends to be Earnest to avoid certain social obligations. Oscar Wilde's undying comedy – in an edition to fit any handbag. Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price
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