Production photos

ABOUT “The Importance of Being Earnest”

VCUarts Theatre presents The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde’s madcap farce about mistaken identities, secret engagements, and entangled lovers. This wildly entertaining comedy still delights readers more than a century after its 1895 publication and premiere with its rapid-fire wit and eccentric characters, and has been called “the most perfect comedy in the English language” by the London Telegraph.

Subtitled, “A trivial comedy for serious people”, The Importance of Being Earnest is full of dazzling wordplay and hilariously unlikely situations. The story follows a group of people in high society London in the late nineteenth century. Two bachelors, John ‘Jack’ Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff both create alter egos under the name of Ernest, and each attempts to win the heart of a woman (who conveniently claim to only love men called Ernest). They struggle to keep their stories straight, and as chaos ensues, they find themselves tangled in a tale of deception, disguise, and misadventure. The audience is forced to ask – will these men ever find out the vital importance of being earnest?