Mr Ken Dee as Lady Bracknell in
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Theatre Trailer
The Importance of Being Earnest, a “Trivial
Comedy for Serious People” is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14th
February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in
which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome
social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian
London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats
serious institutions, such as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian
ways. Contemporary reviews at the time all praised the play's humour, though
some were cautious about its explicit lack of social messages, while one considered
it the culmination of Wilde's artistic career so far. Its high farce and
witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most
enduringly popular play. The successful opening night marked the climax of
Wilde's career but also heralded his downfall. The Marquess
of Queensberry, whose son Lord Alfred Douglas was Wilde's lover, planned to present
the writer with a bouquet of rotten vegetables and disrupt the show. Wilde
was tipped off and Queensberry was refused admission. Soon afterwards their
feud came to a climax in court, where Wilde's homosexual double life was
revealed to the Victorian public and he was eventually sentenced to
imprisonment. His notoriety caused the play, despite its early success, to be
closed after 86 performances. After his release, Wilde published the
play from exile in Paris, but he wrote no further comic or dramatic work. The Importance of Being Earnest has been revived
many times since its premiere. It has been adapted for the cinema on three
occasions. In The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), Dame Edith Evans
reprised her celebrated interpretation of Lady Bracknell; The Importance of
Being Earnest (1992) by Kurt Baker used an all-black cast; and Oliver
Parker's The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) incorporated some of Wilde's original
material that had been cut during the preparation of the original stage
production. Mr Ken Dee very much believes Oscar Wilde’s inner
intention was that the part of Lady Bracknell should be played by a man. Had
the society of the late 1800’s been as accepting as today’s modern society
then this production is perhaps how Oscar Wilde imagined it should have been
cast. |