Gilbert's 1877 farce Engaged, from which Wilde borrowed not only several incidents but also "the gravity of tone demanded by Gilbert of his actors". Wilde continually revised the text over the next months.
as the most trivial of Wilde's society plays, and the only one that produces "that peculiar exhilaration of the spirit by which we recognise the beautiful." "It is", he wrote, "precisely because it is consistently trivial that it is not ugly." Ellmann says that The Importance of Being Earnest touched on many themes Wilde had been building since the 1880s – the languor of aesthetic poses was well established and Wilde takes it as a starting point for the two protagonists.
It was not until the 1920s that the case for 1890s costumes was established; as a critic in The Manchester Guardian put it, "Thirty years on, one begins to feel that Wilde should be done in the costume of his period – that his wit today needs the backing of the atmosphere that gave it life and truth.
In 1892, three years before Wilde wrote the play, John Gambril Nicholson had published the book of pederastic poetry Love in Earnest.
He spent the summer of 1894 with his family at Worthing, where he began work on the new play.
First performed on 14 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.
In early 1895, at the St James's Theatre, the actor-manager George Alexander's production of Henry James's Guy Domville failed, and closed after 31 performances, leaving Alexander in urgent need of a new play to follow it.
Some consider the three-act structure more effective and theatrically resonant than the expanded published edition. ==Productions== ===Premiere=== The play was first produced at the St James's Theatre on Valentine's Day 1895.
Alexander tried, unsuccessfully, to save the production by removing Wilde's name from the billing, but the play had to close after only 86 performances. The play's original Broadway production opened at the Empire Theatre on 22 April 1895, but closed after sixteen performances.
The Australian premiere was in Melbourne on 10 August 1895, presented by Dion Boucicault Jr.
Tapping's company toured Earnest between October 1895 and March 1899 (their performance at the Theatre Royal, Limerick, in the last week of October 1895 was almost certainly the first production of the play in Ireland).
In 1898, when no one else would, Leonard Smithers agreed with Wilde to publish the two final plays.
Tapping's company toured Earnest between October 1895 and March 1899 (their performance at the Theatre Royal, Limerick, in the last week of October 1895 was almost certainly the first production of the play in Ireland).
Elsie Lanham's company also toured 'Earnest' between November 1899 and April 1900.
Elsie Lanham's company also toured 'Earnest' between November 1899 and April 1900.
Alexander revived Earnest in a small theatre in Notting Hill, outside the West End, in 1901; in the same year he presented the piece on tour, playing Jack Worthing with a cast including the young Lilian Braithwaite as Cecily.
The play returned to the West End when Alexander presented a revival at the St James's in 1902.
Broadway revivals were mounted in 1902 and again in 1910, each production running for six weeks. A collected edition of Wilde's works, published in 1908 and edited by Robert Ross, helped to restore his reputation as an author.
Broadway revivals were mounted in 1902 and again in 1910, each production running for six weeks. A collected edition of Wilde's works, published in 1908 and edited by Robert Ross, helped to restore his reputation as an author.
Alexander presented another revival of Earnest at the St James's in 1909, when he and Aynesworth reprised their original roles; the revival ran for 316 performances.
Broadway revivals were mounted in 1902 and again in 1910, each production running for six weeks. A collected edition of Wilde's works, published in 1908 and edited by Robert Ross, helped to restore his reputation as an author.
Max Beerbohm said that the play was sure to become a classic of the English repertory, and that its humour was as fresh then as when it had been written, adding that the actors had "worn as well as the play". For a 1913 revival at the same theatre the young actors Gerald Ames and A.
Another suggestion, put forward in 1913 by Aleister Crowley, who knew Wilde, was that Bunbury was a combination word: that Wilde had once taken a train to Banbury, met a schoolboy there, and arranged a second secret meeting with him at Sunbury. ==Bunburying== Bunburying is a stratagem used by people who need an excuse for avoiding social obligations in their daily life.
It was not until the 1920s that the case for 1890s costumes was established; as a critic in The Manchester Guardian put it, "Thirty years on, one begins to feel that Wilde should be done in the costume of his period – that his wit today needs the backing of the atmosphere that gave it life and truth.
John Deverell as Jack and Margaret Scudamore as Lady Bracknell headed the cast in a 1923 production at the Haymarket Theatre.
In 1925 the BBC broadcast an adaptation with Hesketh Pearson as Jack Worthing.
The earliest such version was a 1927 American show entitled Oh Earnest.
Further broadcasts of the play followed in 1927 and 1936.
… Wilde's glittering and complex verbal felicities go ill with the shingle and the short skirt." In Sir Nigel Playfair's 1930 production at the Lyric, Hammersmith, John Gielgud played Jack to the Lady Bracknell of his aunt, Mabel Terry-Lewis.
Further broadcasts of the play followed in 1927 and 1936.
Gielgud produced and starred in a production at the Globe (now the Gielgud) Theatre in 1939, in a cast that included Edith Evans as Lady Bracknell, Joyce Carey as Gwendolen, Angela Baddeley as Cecily and Margaret Rutherford as Miss Prism.
During a 1946 season at the Haymarket the King and Queen attended a performance, which, as the journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft put it, gave the play "a final accolade of respectability." The production toured North America, and was successfully staged on Broadway in 1947. As Wilde's work came to be read and performed again, it was The Importance of Being Earnest that received the most productions.
During a 1946 season at the Haymarket the King and Queen attended a performance, which, as the journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft put it, gave the play "a final accolade of respectability." The production toured North America, and was successfully staged on Broadway in 1947. As Wilde's work came to be read and performed again, it was The Importance of Being Earnest that received the most productions.
Edith Evans, both on stage and in the 1952 film, delivered the line loudly in a mixture of horror, incredulity and condescension.
Lastly, one translation gave the name an Italianate touch by rendering it as Ernesto; this work liberally mixed proper nouns from both languages. ==Adaptations== ===Film=== Apart from several "made-for-television" versions, The Importance of Being Earnest has been adapted for the English-language cinema at least three times, first in 1952 by Anthony Asquith who adapted the screenplay and directed it.
Stuart Burge directed another adaptation in 1986 with a cast including Gemma Jones, Alec McCowen, Paul McGann and Joan Plowright. It was adapted for Australian TV in 1957. ===Commercial recordings=== Gielgud's performance is preserved on an EMI audio recording dating from 1952, which also captures Edith Evans's Lady Bracknell.
The cast also includes Roland Culver (Algy), Jean Cadell (Miss Prism), Pamela Brown (Gwendolen) and Celia Johnson (Cecily). Other audio recordings include a "Theatre Masterworks" version from 1953, directed and narrated by Margaret Webster, with a cast including Maurice Evans, Lucile Watson and Mildred Natwick; a 1989 version by California Artists Radio Theatre, featuring Dan O'Herlihy Jeanette Nolan, Les Tremayne and Richard Erdman; and one by L.A.
The journalist Mark Bostridge comments, "The libretto of a 1957 musical adaptation, Half in Earnest, deposited in the British Library, is scarcely more encouraging.
Stuart Burge directed another adaptation in 1986 with a cast including Gemma Jones, Alec McCowen, Paul McGann and Joan Plowright. It was adapted for Australian TV in 1957. ===Commercial recordings=== Gielgud's performance is preserved on an EMI audio recording dating from 1952, which also captures Edith Evans's Lady Bracknell.
Algernon too is pursued by a group of creditors in the opening scene. ===Operas and musicals=== In 1960, Ernest in Love was staged Off-Broadway.
The opera for two pianos, percussion and singers was composed in 1961-2.
The production was released on audio cassette. A 1964 commercial television adaptation starred Ian Carmichael, Patrick Macnee, Susannah York, Fenella Fielding, Pamela Brown and Irene Handl. BBC television transmissions of the play have included a 1974 Play of the Month version starring Coral Browne as Lady Bracknell with Michael Jayston, Julian Holloway, Gemma Jones and Celia Bannerman.
The production was released on audio cassette. A 1964 commercial television adaptation starred Ian Carmichael, Patrick Macnee, Susannah York, Fenella Fielding, Pamela Brown and Irene Handl. BBC television transmissions of the play have included a 1974 Play of the Month version starring Coral Browne as Lady Bracknell with Michael Jayston, Julian Holloway, Gemma Jones and Celia Bannerman.
In 1977, BBC Radio 4 broadcast the four-act version of the play, with Fabia Drake as Lady Bracknell, Richard Pasco as Jack, Jeremy Clyde as Algy, Maurice Denham as Canon Chasuble, Sylvia Coleridge as Miss Prism, Barbara Leigh-Hunt as Gwendolen and Prunella Scales as Cecily.
The first time I heard it mentioned was in the 1980s and I immediately consulted Sir John Gielgud whose own performance of Jack Worthing in the same play was legendary and whose knowledge of theatrical lore was encyclopaedic.
By the time of its centenary the journalist Mark Lawson described it as "the second most known and quoted play in English after Hamlet." For Sir Peter Hall's 1982 production at the National Theatre the cast included Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell, Martin Jarvis as Jack, Nigel Havers as Algy, Zoë Wanamaker as Gwendolen and Anna Massey as Miss Prism.
Stuart Burge directed another adaptation in 1986 with a cast including Gemma Jones, Alec McCowen, Paul McGann and Joan Plowright. It was adapted for Australian TV in 1957. ===Commercial recordings=== Gielgud's performance is preserved on an EMI audio recording dating from 1952, which also captures Edith Evans's Lady Bracknell.
The cast also includes Roland Culver (Algy), Jean Cadell (Miss Prism), Pamela Brown (Gwendolen) and Celia Johnson (Cecily). Other audio recordings include a "Theatre Masterworks" version from 1953, directed and narrated by Margaret Webster, with a cast including Maurice Evans, Lucile Watson and Mildred Natwick; a 1989 version by California Artists Radio Theatre, featuring Dan O'Herlihy Jeanette Nolan, Les Tremayne and Richard Erdman; and one by L.A.
In 1992 Kurt Baker directed a version using an all-black cast with Daryl Keith Roach as Jack, Wren T.
Nicholas Hytner's 1993 production at the Aldwych Theatre, starring Maggie Smith, had occasional references to the supposed gay subtext. In 2005 the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, produced the play with an all-male cast; it also featured Wilde as a character – the play opens with him drinking in a Parisian café, dreaming of his play.
The production was later released on CD. To commemorate the centenary of the first performance of the play, Radio 4 broadcast a new adaptation on 13 February 1995; directed by Glyn Dearman, it featured Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell, Michael Hordern as Lane, Michael Sheen as Jack Worthing, Martin Clunes as Algernon Moncrieff, John Moffatt as Canon Chasuble, Miriam Margolyes as Miss Prism, Samantha Bond as Gwendolen and Amanda Root as Cecily.
The production was later issued on audio cassette. On 13 December 2000, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a new adaptation directed by Howard Davies starring Geraldine McEwan as Lady Bracknell, Simon Russell Beale as Jack Worthing, Julian Wadham as Algernon Moncrieff, Geoffrey Palmer as Canon Chasuble, Celia Imrie as Miss Prism, Victoria Hamilton as Gwendolen and Emma Fielding as Cecily, with music composed by Dominic Muldowney.
It was nominated for three Tony Awards. The play was also presented internationally, in Singapore, in October 2004, by the British Theatre Playhouse, and the same company brought it to London's Greenwich Theatre in April 2005. A 2018 revival was directed by Michael Fentiman for the Vaudeville Theatre, London, as part of a season of four Wilde plays produced by Dominic Dromgoole.
Nicholas Hytner's 1993 production at the Aldwych Theatre, starring Maggie Smith, had occasional references to the supposed gay subtext. In 2005 the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, produced the play with an all-male cast; it also featured Wilde as a character – the play opens with him drinking in a Parisian café, dreaming of his play.
It was nominated for three Tony Awards. The play was also presented internationally, in Singapore, in October 2004, by the British Theatre Playhouse, and the same company brought it to London's Greenwich Theatre in April 2005. A 2018 revival was directed by Michael Fentiman for the Vaudeville Theatre, London, as part of a season of four Wilde plays produced by Dominic Dromgoole.
His return to work was brief though, as he refused to write anything else, "I can write, but have lost the joy of writing". On 19 October 2007, a first edition (number 349 of 1,000) was discovered inside a handbag in an Oxfam shop in Nantwich, Cheshire.
The Melbourne Theatre Company staged a production in December 2011 with Geoffrey Rush as Lady Bracknell. In 2011 the Roundabout Theatre Company produced a Broadway revival based on the 2009 Stratford Shakespeare Festival production featuring Brian Bedford as director and as Lady Bracknell.
Stockard Channing, in the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin in 2010, hushed the line, in a critic's words, "with a barely audible 'A handbag?', rapidly swallowed up with a sharp intake of breath.
The Melbourne Theatre Company staged a production in December 2011 with Geoffrey Rush as Lady Bracknell. In 2011 the Roundabout Theatre Company produced a Broadway revival based on the 2009 Stratford Shakespeare Festival production featuring Brian Bedford as director and as Lady Bracknell.
It opened at the American Airlines Theatre on 13 January and ran until 3 July 2011.
Other songs include 'A Bunburying I Must Go'." Gerald Barry created the 2011 opera, The Importance of Being Earnest, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Barbican Centre in London.
It was premiered in Los Angeles in 2011.
The stage premiere was given by the Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy, France in 2013. In 2017, Odyssey Opera of Boston presented a fully staged production of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s opera The Importance of Being Earnest as part of their Wilde Opera Nights series which was a season-long exploration of operatic works inspired by the writings and world of Oscar Wilde.
The stage premiere was given by the Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy, France in 2013. In 2017, Odyssey Opera of Boston presented a fully staged production of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s opera The Importance of Being Earnest as part of their Wilde Opera Nights series which was a season-long exploration of operatic works inspired by the writings and world of Oscar Wilde.
It was nominated for three Tony Awards. The play was also presented internationally, in Singapore, in October 2004, by the British Theatre Playhouse, and the same company brought it to London's Greenwich Theatre in April 2005. A 2018 revival was directed by Michael Fentiman for the Vaudeville Theatre, London, as part of a season of four Wilde plays produced by Dominic Dromgoole.
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