“The Importance of Being Earnest”: savor the satirical wit of Oscar Wilde

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in Madison opens its 2025 season with one of the classic comedies of the Victorian Era, The Importance of Being Earnest by Irish-born Oscar Wilde. Arguably Wilde’s funniest play, it introduced the unforgettably formidable Lady Augusta Bracknell and neatly skewered notions of upper-class propriety. It was a hit when it premiered in 1895, and now it’s presented here in all its illogically logical glory.

The plot, for those who’ve never seen it on stage or screen: Ernest Worthing (Tug Rice) calls on his friend, Algernon Moncrieff (Christian Frost) at his London flat. Ernest has a secret: at his country home in Hartfordshire, he is Jack Worthing, the proper guardian of young Cecily Cardew (Joyce Meimei Zheng). But when he needs an escape he comes up to London to tend to his imaginary ne’er-do-well brother “Ernest,” assuming the name of Ernest while in the city. Algernon too has a secret: to escape social obligations, he has invented an imaginary ailing friend, “Bunbury,” whom he visits outside of London.

Algernon has other visitors: his aunt Lady Bracknell (Marion Adler) and her daughter, Gwendolen Fairfax (Carolyne Leys). Jack’s proposal to Gwendolen is accepted because she believes Jack’s first name is Ernest. Lady Bracknell disapproves and rejects Jack as a suitable suitor. Jack and Gwendolen plan a tryst at his country house, and Algernon, overhearing their plans, learns the address of Jack’s house and plans to visit “Bunbury” there — and Cecily, too.

In the country, Cecily is being tutored by her governess, Miss Prism (Celia Schaefer) and is visited by the local rector, Dr. Chasuble (Alvin Keith). Prism and Chasuble are ludicrous in their unsubtle wooing. As they go off for a walk, Algernon arrives, announcing himself as Jack’s brother Ernest. Cecily and Algernon fall in love at first sight, Cecily telling him she has always dreamed of a suitor named Ernest. Jack arrives, determined to put an end to “Ernest,” only to find Algernon posing as his imaginary brother and determinedly pursuing Cecily. While the two gentlemen go inside, Cecily entertains the newly-arrived Gwendolen in the garden. Their profuse declarations of mutual affection descend into forced-polite trash-talking after each claims to be engaged to Ernest Worthing. Jack and Algernon are forced to admit their real first names, and the two women, in highest dudgeon, storm off. All of this earnest Ernest yearning goes into overdrive when Lady Bracknell arrives.

Wilde, in this play, not only satirizes upper-class manners and mores. He turns society on its head, and one can argue he switches the era’s socially acceptable behavior of men and women with each other. Jack and Algernon have a more than casual interest in clothes and food; they both play the piano quite well, the mark of a refined upper-class woman of the day; and their arguments bear little fruit when in dispute with members of the opposite sex. As for Gwendolen and Cecily, they are hot-tempered and prone to jealousy where their men are concerned; they expect their judgements not to be disputed; and they are more overly concerned with propriety and image.

In Lady Bracknell, these behaviors and attitudes are enlarged and set in stone given her status as the matriarch of her family. (Her husband is unseen and unheard, and she expects her opinions and conclusions to be fully supported by him.) She wields the veto over the man who will marry Gwendolen and the woman whom Algernon will marry, which was usually a father’s role in the family structure.

After a somewhat slow start in the first act — after all, one has to set up situations and characters — The Importance of Being Earnest takes off in the latter two acts. Artistic Director Brian B. Crowe allows his troupe of actors to set their imaginations free in designing actions and line deliveries to fit their characters and serve Wilde’s words. Chief among these is Marion Adler’s Lady Bracknell. She seems to get all the best attitudes and lines in the play, and when she is not on stage you find yourself watching to see how and when she pops up again.

Richard Bourg in the dual roles of Jack’s and Algernon’s manservants has few lines, but by use of facial expressions and body language lands more humorous points than the rest of the cast. Carolyne Leys and Joyce Meimei Zheng portray two women who know both the rules of society and just how far they can bend those rules to gain the upper hand over their fiancees-in-waiting. Celia Schaefer and Alvin Keith are two over-educated yet under-learned emotional twits, letting their ideas of proper romance create its own bubble of humor. Last but not least, Christian Frost and Tug Rice portray two slightly-spoiled man-children, pretending to be adults even when they chase each other around the room, pelting each other with tea cakes.

Sarah Beth Hall’s sets, lit by Andrew Hungerford, perfectly portray Victorian ideas of home decor, anchored by two huge sets of drapes at either side of the stage. Austin Blake Conlee’s costumes show Victorian style and define the class of the characters wearing them. The one problem I found was that the program states that the play is set in the present, so the sets and costumes seem off. I am willing, however, to think the error is in the program, not in the designs.

The original run of The Importance of Being Earnest was cut short when Oscar Wilde was convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to jail months after the show opened. This production also, alas, will have a short run, but that is by design. I suggest you see this “trivial comedy for serious people,” as Wilde referred to the play, before its all-too-brief run ends. Make the trip to Madison and learn for yourselves The Importance of Being Earnest!

The Importance of Being Earnest is presented by the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at the F.M. Kirby Theatre on the campus of Drew University through June 1, 2025. For more information, or to purchase tickets, go to shakespearenj.org.