The Importance of Being Earnest: with facsimile of first-night programme (Aziloth Books)

by Oscar Wilde

Overview

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854, the son of William and Lady Francesca Wilde, both noted intellectuals in the city. Educated first at Trinity College, Dublin, and then Magdalen College, Oxford, he became known as much for his wit as his flamboyant style of dress. Wilde then moved to London, settling in Chelsea in 1878, where he rubbed shoulders with the likes of George Moore, Henry James and William Butler Yeats. But commercial success proved elusive and it was not until 1891 that his novel, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', was published. There followed a brief effulgence of genius, with the production of a series of plays, culminating in what many regard as his masterpiece, 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. The play purports to be a variety of Victorian melodrama, whose stock-in-trade of abandoned children and apparently upright citizens whose pasts hold terrible secrets, are well represented in the play. To this, Wilde added several dramatic twists - satire of marriage and prevailing social mores, and a character with no small resemblance to himself, the Dandy, whose self-deprecating style and amoral character allows Wilde to pepper the play with a blizzard of barbed and memorable epigrams on the base and venal motives underlying the shallow mask of Victorian Polite Society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781909735835
Publisher:	Aziloth Books
Publication date:	09/22/2015
Pages:	102
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 7.81(h) x 0.21(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

The ever-quotable Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet who delighted Victorian England with his legendary wit. He found critical and popular success with his scintillating plays, chiefly The Importance of Being Earnest, while his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, scandalized readers. Imprisoned for two years for homosexual behavior, Wilde moved to France after his release, where he died destitute.

Date of Birth:

October 16, 1854

Date of Death:

November 30, 1900

Place of Birth:

Dublin, Ireland

Place of Death:

Paris, France

Education:

The Royal School in Enniskillen, Dublin, 1864; Trinity College, Dublin, 1871; Magdalen College, Oxford, England, 1874

Table of Contents

THE PERSONS IN THE PLAY

John Worthing, J.P.

Algernon Moncrieff

Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D.

Merriman, Butler

Lane, Manservant

Lady Bracknell

Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax

Cecily Cardew

Miss Prism, Governess

THE SCENES OF THE PLAY

ACT I.

1. Moncrieff’s Flat in Half-Moon Street, W. p.7

ACT II.

1. Garden at the Manor House, Woolton. p.38

ACT III.

1. at the Manor House, Woolton. p.76

TIME: The Present

LONDON: ST. JAMES’S THEATRE

Lessee and Manager: Mr. George Alexander

February 14th, 1895

ACTORS (1895 performance)

John Worthing, J.P.: Mr. George Alexander

Algernon Moncrieff: Mr. Allen Aynesworth

Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D.: Mr. H. H. Vincent

Merriman: Mr. Frank Dyall

Lane: Mr. F. Kinsey Peile

Lady Bracknell: Miss Rose Leclercq

Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax: Miss Irene Vanbrugh

Cecily Cardew: Miss Evelyn Millard

Miss Prism: Mrs. George Canninge