Cincinnati Shakespeare CompanyBei
The Importance of Being Earnestnarnest
By Oscar Wilde
Educational Supplement
Key Facts
Full Title: The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People
Genre: Social comedy; comedy of manners; satire; intellectual farce
Time and Place written: Summer 1894 in Worthing, England
Date of First Production: February 14, 1895; however, the play was not published until
1899.
Setting (Time): 1890s
Setting (Place): London (Act I) and Hertfordshire, a rural county not far from London
(Acts II and III)
What’s in a name?
Several of the names in The Importance of Being Earnest have a double meaning, not to
mention of course the name Ernest itself.
John Worthing - refers to one of four towns in Sussex mentioned in the play. He is a
magistrate: a
suitable role for a country squire.
Cannon Chasuble, D.D. - The letters after his name signify that he is a doctor of
divinity.
Lady Bracknell - Her name refers to the town where the mother of Wilde’s lover, Alfred
Douglas, resided.
Gwendolen Fairfax - Her name shows that she is a daughter of either a Baron or a
Viscount.
Lane - The Butler’s name is a tribute to the publisher, John Lane, who brought out many
of the most
avant-garde literary works of the 1890’s, including Wilde’s.
Source: Pelican version of The Importance of Being Earnest
Glossary
Educational Supplement
PLACES
Half-moon Street - A fashionable street in central London running between Curzon Street and
Piccadilly.
Scotland Yard - The headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police Force.
Tunbridge Wells - A fashionable spa town in Kent
Willis’- A well-known restaurant on King’s Street, in London where artistic and aesthetic people
were often seen.
Grosvenor Square - The central square in Mayfair and the most expensive residential area in
London.
Belgrave Square - Another select residential area in London. It remains elite to this day. The
Empire- A variety theatre in Leicester Square, London, severely criticized for nudity on stage.
Woolton, Hertfordshire - Woolton is a fictional place created by Wilde; the county of
Hertfordshire lies to the north of London.
Grand Hotel - in the Boulevard des Capucines, this hotel was among the most luxurious in Paris
and was frequented by Wilde.
Upper Grosvenor Street - A fashionable street in west London.
Bayswater - Chic district in West London.
Brighton - A major seaside resort in Sussex made fashionable during the time of the Regency.
Leamington - A well-known pub in Warwichshire. Royalty had patronized it.
PEOPLE
Bunburyist - A deceiver, one who uses an alibi like ‘Bunbury’ to escape from social obligations.
Wilde did have an old school friend called Bunbury.
Lord Shoreham - A fictional character whose name is taken from a Sussex seaside town.
Liberal Unionist - The group of liberals who voted against Gladstone’s Home Rule for Ireland
bill of 1886. They stand for the conservative side of liberal politics, and hence are acceptable to
Lady Bracknell’s Society.
Pew-opener - A person employed by the church to open the private pews for eminent persons.
PHRASES
as right as a trivet - The phrase loosely translated means everything is perfectly safe or steady. (a
trivet is a three-legged stand for a teapot)
three-volume novels that Mudie sends us - Mudie’s was a lending library which traded in threevolume novels. By circulating novels in three volumes, it meant that three readers could borrow
different parts of the same work of fiction.
Misanthrope…..womanthrope - Misanthrope means a hater of humanity; ‘womanthrope’ is a
neologism, and means hater of women.
TERMS
A Mar’echal Niel - a yellow noisette rose, fashionable in Britain after the 1860’s.
Manna - An allusion to the Old Testament where, during their pilgrimage from Egypt to the
Holy Land, God miraculously provided the Israelites with this food, a white substance that fell
with the dew.
Court Guides - published annually, containing the names and addresses of members of the
aristocracy.
Army-Lists - Lists of all the commissioned officers in the British Army.
Importance of Being
About the Playwright
Oscar Wilde
Birth Name: Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde
Birth Place: Dublin, Ireland
Birth Date: October 16, 1854
Death Date: November 30, 1900
Place of Death: Paris, France
Occupation: Playwright, Novelist, Poet, and Editor
Parents: Sir William Wilde and Jane Francesca Elgee
Spouse: Constance Lloyd
Children: Cyril and Vyvyan
Wilde Facts
• Wilde only wrote one novel during his lifetime: The Picture of Dorian Gray
• He went on a lecture tour throughout the United States, London, and Canada to teach aesthetic
values in 1879
• Wilde was regarded as one of the greatest playwrights of the Victorian Era
• Wilde wrote and produced nine plays
• Nine biographies have been written about Wilde since his death. One of the most accurate is by
his grandson Merlin Holland in 1997.
• The Importance of Being Earnest was an early experiment in Victorian melodrama—a new
form of realism which presents the pessimistic side of reality in a humorous and satirical fashion.
Source: www.cmgworldwide.com/historic/wilde/lit_works.htm
Literary Works
1878 Ravenna
1881 Poems
1888 The Happy Prince and Other Tales
1889 The Decay of Lying
1891 Picture of Dorian Gray
1891 Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories
1891 Intentions
1891 Salome
1892 The House of Pomegranates
1892 Lady Windermere’s Fan
1893 A Woman of No Importance
1893 The Duchess of Padua
1894 The Sphinx
1895 An Ideal Husband
1895 The Importance of Being Earnest
1898 The Ballad of Reading Gaol
Interview with the Director
The following interview is with Guest Director (and one of the founders of CSC), R.Chris Reeder about
his vision for the Season 13 production of The Importance of Being Earnest.
Q: What advice did you give the actors before starting this play?
CR: Because the play is so much about language, wit, and the use of words to influence others, I talked to
the actors about precision. I wanted them to think about their words, make their movements very precise,
very clear, and very well-defined. Precision is always the hallmark of a well-done comedy, and even more
so when the humor is completely language-based, as it is with Oscar Wilde.
Q: How does Wilde stand out from other playwrights? What can we learn from his aphorisms?
What is your favorite one?
CR: The main thing that sets Wilde apart from other playwrights is the fact that he wrote the greatest
English comedy of the last 200 years. He was a superb craftsman, he had an amazing ability to use
language and to twist language to his own ends. He wrote with great economy, which most playwrights,
especially in the period he was writing in, could not do. The story of his life, and how much of it is in his
plays, when one delves beneath the surface, is fascinating. His aphorisms were an incredibly astute
way of taking a common truth, twisting it, reversing it, and re-presenting it, in such a manner that it
makes us re-visit, re-think simple facts that we think we know to be true. He did this better that anyone
who has ever lived. My favorite is probably "Nothing that actually occurs is of the smallest importance."
Although "Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril" gives us some great advice on how to
view his work.
Q: What has been the hardest part about working on this play? What has been your favorite part?
CR: When directing a play, especially a classic play, I always want to bring as much of myself into it as
possible. I want to know what I have to say about it, and present that to the audience as clearly as
possible. The hardest part of working on this play is that it is so well-written, so perfectly crafted, that the
best thing, the only thing to do to do it well, is to put the words in the mouths of incredibly talented
people, and then leave it alone. This is also my favorite part.
The director uses a giant picture frame outside the theatre proscenium arch to frame the space. Picture
fames with words are brought on stage at the top of every Act.
Q: What is the significance of using picture frames throughout the show?
CR: There is much in the play that is about one's public life, the persona that one presents to the world. I
think and hope the metaphor of the picture frame is a clear way to present this throughout the production.
(Also hearkening a bit to "Picture of Dorian Gray" as well, of course.) But more importantly, it allows us
to think about what is behind the frame, what secrets have collected in the dust on the wall.
Q: What can people expect from this production?
CR: People can expect to see a beautiful, elegant production. They can expect to hear wonderful, witty
language, some of the finest verbal with and humor ever crafted with the English language. And they can
expect to laugh. A lot.
Character Snapshots
John (Jack/Earnest) Worthing J.P. - Known as Jack in the country and Ernest in London, as the play’s protagonist
he leads a double life. Jack has created a fictional brother, Ernest, in order to escape the everyday tasks that go along
with being the guardian to Cecily and an upstanding citizen. The initials after his name indicate that he is a justice of
the peace. Posing as Ernest, Jack falls for Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolen. “All women become like their mothers.
That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.” CSC Resident Actor Giles Davies is playing the character of Jack.
Algernon Moncrieff - Algernon, nicknamed Algy, is Jack/Ernest’s best friend. Algy too has created a fictional
escape, Bunbury, who is often ill and requires visitation in the hospital. Algy uses ‘Bunbury’ to shun unpleasant
social engagements. Algy falls in love with Jack’s ward, Cecily Cardew. “Nothing will induce me to part with
Bunbury, and if you ever get married, which seems to me extremely problematic, you will be very glad to know
Bunbury. A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it.” CSC Resident Actor Jeremy
Dubin is playing the part of Algernon.
Gwendolen Fairfax - Gwendolen, a high arbitrator of fashion and society, is set on marrying somebody with the
name of Ernest. Gwendolen is Algernon’s cousin and Lady Bracknell’s daughter. She falls in love with Ernest, who
does not have the heart to tell her his true name is Jack. “The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a
friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you.” CSC Resident Actress Kelly Mengelkoch is playing
Gwendolen.
Cecily Cardew - Cecily is Jack’s young ward. Similar to Gwendolen, she too is drawn to the name Ernest. Cecily
has fallen in love with Jack’s mischievous brother Ernest and has even created a fictional romance and engagement
to him. “I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time.
That would be hypocrisy.” CSC Resident Actress Haley Clark is playing Cecily.
Lady Bracknell - Lady Bracknell is Gwendolen’s strict high-class mother. She is a major obstacle between the four
lovers happiness. The character of Lady Bracknell is one of Wilde’s direct usages to “satirize the hypocrisy and
stupidity of the British aristocracy.” “I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance
is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically
unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a
serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.” CSC Resident
Actor Matt Johnson will be performing the role dressed as a woman.
Miss Prism - Miss Prism is Cecily’s governess. Miss Prism has strict Purtian values, but cannot deny her romantic
feelings for Dr. Chasuble. “A misanthrope I can understand – a womanthrope, never!” CSC Guest Artist Ellen
Karsten is playing Miss Prism.
Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D. - Dr. Chasuble often visits Miss Prism for long romantic walks together. Both and Jack
and Algy ask the Reverend to christen them with the name Ernest. The initials after Dr. Chasuble’s name stand for
‘Doctor of Divinity.’ “My sermon on the meaning of the manna in the wilderness can be adapted to almost any
occasion, joyful, or, as in the present case, distressing.” CSC Resident Actor Rob Jansen is playing Reverend
Chasuble.