The Importance of Being Earnest
Importance of Being Earnest, The
Author: Oscar Wilde
First Performance: 1895, London
Published: 1899
Genre: Com. in 3 (originally 4) acts
Setting: Algernon's residence in London and Jack Worthing's house in the country, 1890s
Cast: 5m, 4f
John (‘Jack’) Worthing leads a double life: in the country he is a respected JP, in charge of a young ward, Cecily. In London, where he is visiting his friend Algernon Moncrieff, he calls himself Ernest, a fictitious brother whom the sober Jack has to help out of various scrapes. Algernon's cousin Gwendolen Fairfax accepts a proposal of marriage from Jack, because she has always wanted to marry someone called Ernest. However, her mother, the fearsome Lady Bracknell, on learning that Jack is an orphan who was found in a handbag, refuses her permission. Algernon...
[The entire page is 495 words long]
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