The Importance of Being Earnest

By Oscar Wilde

Directed by Jonathan Price

‘To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up’

‘Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me?’

The game’s up! John Worthing is Jack when he’s in the country and Ernest when in town. But he’s not the only player with a ploy, and some of his nearest and dearest are already two steps ahead.

Oscar Wilde’s greatest work for the stage returns to Circa for a season of blistering wit, mistaken identities, and human hypocrisy so keenly observed you’d think it was written yesterday. A troupe of Aotearoa’s finest comic actors take the stage like a jazz band tearing through a bop classic.

Colourful, naughty, subversive, smart and fabulous, this Earnest finds a new home in an age still obsessed with appearances. This is Wilde with his top button undone and false lashes on. This is for anyone who’s used a filter, lied in a job interview or exaggerated on their Tinder profile.

When everyone shouts ‘Be yourself!’, The Importance of Being Earnest asks, now where’s the fun in that?

7 Oct–4 Nov
Preview 6 Oct
Circa One
Tues – Thurs 6.30pm, Fri – Sat 8pm, Sun 4pm
$30 – $55

Post-show Q&A – Tuesday 10 October 6.30pm

Performance change: The evening performance on the 14th October has been moved to a 4pm Matinee.

You can find ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’s Education pack here

Programme: Click Here

CAST:

John “Jack” Worthing, J.P.: Andrew Paterson
Algernon Moncrieff: Isobel Mackinnon
Gwendolen Fairfax: Ryan Carter
Cecily Cardew: Dawn Cheong
Lady Bracknell: Irene Wood
Miss Prism: Anne Chamberlain
Reverend Chasuble, D.D.: Peter Hambleton
Lane/Merriman: Rebecca Parker

PRODUCTION TEAM:

Director: Jonathan Price
Producer: Nathan Mudge
Production & Stage Manager: Anna Barker
Production Designer: Meg Rollandi
Lighting Designer: Isadora Lao
Sound Designer: Matt Asunder
Costume Construction: Anne de Geus
Assistant Stage Manager: Kathy Keane
Set Constructor: Joshua Bourdeau
Graphic Designer: William Duignan

Design by William Duignan. Photo by Lewis Ferris