About the Play:

The American Academy of Dramatic Arts recommends The Importance of Being Earnest for male monologues.

This is the 3-act version. The Importance of Being Earnest is a full-length farce comedy by Oscar Wilde. Two wealthy London bachelors each pretend to be a fictitious man called Earnest in order to win over two eligible young ladies, despite the ladies' avowed preference for that name alone – and the interference of the intimidatingly proper Lady Bracknell – in Oscar Wilde's "trivial comedy for serious people."
 
The Importance of Being Earnest revolves wittily around the most ingenious case of manufactured mistaken identity ever put into a play. Jack Worthing pretends to be Earnest to avoid certain social obligations. But Gwendolen has fallen in love with him as Earnest – and he with her. Quizzed as to his origins by her aunt Lady Bracknell, Jack has to admit to being found in a handbag. After further complications involving Jack's friend Algernon, who is also passing himself off as Earnest, Jack's true origins are revealed. This masterpiece is probably one of the most famous and frequently performed comedies in the English language.

The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed in 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London. The last play Oscar Wilde wrote, it is certainly the most celebrated. The play is regularly performed in regional repertory, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 4 women, 5 men (has been performed with an all-female cast)

About the Playwright:

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was already one of the best known literary figures in Britain when he was persuaded to turn his extraordinary talents to the theatre. Between 1891 and 1895 he produced a sequence of distinctive plays which spearheaded the dramatic renaissance of the 1890s and retain their power today.