The Bryant Players performed a rendition of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest this weekend in Janikies Auditorium. The play was directed by Liam Rice, who also starred as the main character, Jack “Earnest” Worthing.
The play begins with an inside view at the life of a peculiar character, Algernon (Algie) Moncrieff. He converses with his maid, Lane, who seems to have a drinking problem. Lane also provides comedic relief throughout the play when conversations between Algernon and Jack become too serious. Jack Worthing, known to Algie as “Earnest,” then barges into Algernon’s house with an announcement: he intends to propose to Algie’s cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax. However, Algernon does not give his consent because he believes Earnest is hiding something. He has Earnest’s cigarette box, which contains the inscription, “to Uncle Jack, from little Cecily.” Earnest comes clean and admits that he is “Earnest in town and Jack in the country.” He has a ward in the country named Cecily and he pretends to have a brother named Earnest so that he can leave the country to go to town. As Jack is describing Cecily, however, Algernon finds himself attracted to the thought of her. Algie then calls Jack a “Bunburyist,” because Algernon also has a fictional friend named Bunbury that he claims to visit in the country when he wants to get out of doing something.
Gwendolen then arrives with her mother, Lady Bracknell. Algie distracts Lady Bracknell and allows Jack a chance to propose, since he now knows the truth behind Jack’s alias. Gwendolen accepts the proposal, but relishes mostly in the fact that she is finally with a man named Earnest. In fact, she adds that she could not love Jack if his name was anything but Earnest.
Lady Bracknell does not approve of Gwendolen’s marriage to Jack because he does not know his ancestry, as he was left in a handbag at a train station and then found by a man. She forbids them from seeing each other, despite Gwendolen’s desires. The two lovers try to find a way around the situation, and Jack gives Gwendolen his address in the country so that she may write to him. A curious Algie overhears the address and writes it down for his own use.
Algernon then arrives at Jack’s country house pretending to be Jack’s brother, Earnest! Jack also returns home around the same time, and tells everyone that Earnest has died, since he no longer has a use for him. However, “Earnest,” or Algie, is already there at his house, and Jack has no choice but to go along with Algie’s shenanigans as he cannot risk revealing that he lied about having a brother.
Prior to Jack’s arrival, Algie meets Cecily and her tutor, Miss Prism. Cecily gets rid of Miss Prism by convincing her to go for a walk with Rev. Canon Chasuble, Doctor of Divinity. Algie and Cecily speak and fall in love. He proposes to her and finds out that she has considered them engaged for months now. After hearing about “Earnest’s wicked character” from her Uncle Jack, Cecily already planned to marry him. She also mentions that a large part of her attraction to him comes from his name, just as Gwendolen said earlier to Jack.
In response to how the two women feel about the name Earnest, both Jack and Algernon independently approach the Reverend and ask to be christened as Earnest.
Shortly thereafter, Gwendolen arrives as Jack’s country house. She meets Cecily in the garden and the two know nothing of each other. They become friends over tea, until Cecily mentions that she is “Mr. Worthing’s ward.” Disconcerted, Gwendolen mentions that she knew nothing about Earnest having a ward. Cecily then clarifies that is Jack Worthing’s ward, not Earnest Worthing’s. The misconceptions continue and the fighting reaches a breaking point when both women claim to be engaged to Earnest Worthing.
At that moment, Jack and Gwendolen arrive at the garden. The men are forced to admit their real names and also that there is no Earnest Worthing. The two women, appalled by their lies, storm off.
The men go after the women into the drawing room of the home and attempt to explain themselves. Cecily asks Algie why he lied about his name and he tells her it was to meet her. Jack explains to Gwendolen that he lied about having a brother so he could see her as often as possible. The women still have reservations about forgiving the men, until they learn that both Algernon and Jack have made arrangements to change their names to Earnest. Afterwards, Cecily and Gwendolen are appeased.
Lady Bracknell then arrives at the country house after having followed Gwendolen there. Both couples reveal their engagements to her. She once again dismisses Jack, but is intrigued by Cecily once she finds out that Cecily has considerable wealth. However, as Cecily’s legal guardian, Jack denies his consent to her marriage to Algernon, infuriating his ward, his friend, and Lady Bracknell. In Cecily’s father’s will, he stated that Cecily could not marry until she reached thirty-five years of age. Jack says that Cecily and Algernon can get married if he is allowed to marry Gwendolen. Lady Bracknell continues to refuse, but stops short when the Reverend arrives and mentions Miss Prism. Lack Bracknell then asks for Miss Prism.
Miss Prism arrives, looking extremely distressed. Lady Bracknell asks her where the baby she took from her sister’s house twenty-eight years ago is. Miss Prism guiltily reveals that she accidentally left the baby at a train station in her handbag. Jack suddenly realizes the implications of her statements and runs upstairs. He comes back down with a handbag and asks if it’s hers. When she says yes, he embraces her and yells, “Mother!” After much confusion, it is revealed that Jack’s mother is not Miss Prism, but rather Lady Bracknell’s sister, who is also Algie’s mom. Jack finds out that his real name is actually… Earnest John.
In the end, Jack realizes that he’s been telling the truth all along. His name is Earnest and Algie is his brother. The couples rejoice and Jack cleverly ends the play with the words, “I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest.”