Oscar Wilde’s brilliant and wicked comic-masterpiece defines wit and style. The comedy is blissfully silly and outrageously shrewd. Over 120 years after its first performance, The Importance of Being Earnest continues to delight audiences with its playful language, charming character and biting look at society.
The Importance of Being Earnest is the story of two bachelors, John “Jack” Worthing and Algernon “Algy” Moncrieff, who create alter egos named Ernest to escape their tiresome lives. They attempt to win the hearts of two women who, conveniently, claim to only love men called Ernest. The pair struggle to keep up with their own stories and become tangled in a tale of deception, disguise and misadventure. The elaborate plot ridicules Victorian sensibilities with some of the best loved, and indeed bizarre, characters to be found on the modern stage. Presented in a reader’s theater format, actors don’t memorize scripts but read them to the audience while using their voices and upper bodies to convey the roles they are playing.
Reader’s theatre actors don’t memorize scripts but read them to the audience while using their voices and upper bodies to convey the roles they are playing. Actors also use vocal and facial expressions, as well as hand and arm movements.
The cast of The Importance of Being Earnest features Natalie Broadway as Cecily, Rachel Crisp as the Reader, Rowan Duncan as Jack, Bruce Jayne as Lane and Merriman, Alexandra McPherson as Miss Prism, Regina Palian as Gwendolen, Terry Terranova as Dr. Chasuble, Matt Wade as Algernon and Katie Winkler as Lady Bracknell.
The Importance of Being Earnest’s artistic team includes director John Baldwin and stage manager Sara Hassinger.
John Baldwin began directing 10 years ago at Broadway West in Fremont, CA. His directing credits include Run For Your Wife, Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some), Coney Island Christmas, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, A Very Modern Marriage, and has directed for play festivals for The Magnetic Theatre and Calliope Stage in Silva.
The show is rated PG due to mild adult situations. Showtimes are 3 pm and 7:30 pm on Saturday, March 11. Running time is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes with one 15 minute intermission. Hendersonville Theater has made masks optional for patrons, and no proof of vaccination is required to attend a performance.