The Importance Of Being Earnest at

Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest is one of the most popular plays ever written. Subtitled 'A trivial comedy for serious people', it is bursting with hilarious lines and extraordinary twists of fate and sparkles with the witty dialogue of its genteel protagonists.

Prim-and-proper Jack Worthington is in love with the equally prim-and-proper Gwendolyn Fairfax. His friend, Algernon Moncrieff, is in love with Cecily Cardew. But both Gwendolyn and Cecily are in love with Ernest. Add the magnificently imposing Lady Bracknell, a nanny with a dubious story about a handbag and the result is a delightful entertainment as fresh and funny as when it was first performed in 1895.

Penelope Keith, one of Britain's best-loved actresses, was born to play Lady Bracknell. Her many previous theatre appearances include Time and the Conways, Blithe Spirit, Entertaining Angels and Relatively Speaking. Her numerous television series include the hugely successful The Good Life and To the Manor Born.

Peter Gill is one of our most distinguished and acclaimed directors. At the Royal Court Theatre in the sixties, he was responsible for introducing D H Lawrence's plays to the theatre, and was the founding director of Riverside Studios and the National Theatre Studio. He has directed more than eighty productions in the UK, Europe and North America.

The set has been designed by William Dudley who is the winner of an astonishing seven Olivier Awards with the RSC, National Theatre and in the West End. He recently designed the sets for Look Back in Anger in the 2006 Peter Hall Season and The Last Confession.