88-397: Tiobe or TIOBE may refer to: The Importance of Being Earnest , a comic play by Oscar Wilde TIOBE index , a programming language popularity index Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Tiobe . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
176-564: A 1939 revival. 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. The Times considered the production the best since the original and praised it for its fidelity to Wilde's conception and its "airy, responsive ball-playing quality". Later in
264-565: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde , the last of his four drawing-room plays , following Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893) and An Ideal Husband (1895). First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy depicting the tangled affairs of two young men about town who lead double lives to evade unwanted social obligations, both assuming
352-561: A cast that included the young Lilian Braithwaite as Cecily. The Manchester Guardian called the piece "a brilliant play". The Importance of Being Earnest returned to the West End when Alexander presented a revival at the St James's in 1902. It was billed as "By the author of Lady Windermere's Fan ", and few reviews mentioned Wilde's name, but his work was praised. The Sporting Times said: The revival ran for 52 performances. For
440-538: A dedicated audience. He is also widely recognised in the Lloyds Bank television commercials. Havers co-starred with Warren Clarke in the 1991 comedic mini-series Sleepers on the BBC. In it, he and Clarke played former KGB spies who had assimilated into English life in the 1960s and were "lost" for 25 years. Successfully and happily living as Englishmen, their worlds are turned upside-down when they discover that
528-426: A friend of his father, advised a young Havers that "If you are charming, you don't have to ask them to go to bed, they ask you". He describes his experiences with an early leading lady, Maxine Audley thus: "I was in her dressing room doing whatever she asked me to, and I mean anything and everything. One afternoon I sauntered into her dressing room, still in my officer's kit, only to find a similarly clad new member of
616-410: A friend whom he knows by the name of Ernest Worthing. The latter has come from the country to propose to Algernon's cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax. Algernon refuses to consent until Ernest explains why his cigarette case bears the inscription, "From little Cecily, with her fondest love to her dear Uncle Jack". Worthing is forced to admit to living a double life. In the country, he assumes a serious attitude for
704-512: A model theatre, Alexander asked the author to shorten the play from four acts to three. Wilde complied and combined elements of the second and third acts. The largest cut was the removal of the character of Mr Gribsby, a solicitor who comes from London to serve a writ on the profligate "Ernest" Worthing for unpaid dining bills at the Savoy Hotel . Wilde was not entirely happy with alterations made at Alexander's behest. He said, "Yes, it
792-464: A number of familiar comic devices", in his revisions "Wilde transformed standard nonsense into the more systematic and disconcerting illogicality which characterizes Earnest's dialogue". The genre of the Importance of Being Earnest has been debated by scholars and critics, who have variously categorised it as high comedy , farce, parody and satire. In a 1956 critique Richard Foster argues that
880-525: A performance, which, as the journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft put it, gave the play "a final accolade of respectability". Gielgud's London production toured North America and was successfully staged on Broadway in 1947. In 1975 Jonathan Miller , who had been prevented for financial reasons the previous year from staging the play at the National Theatre with an all-male cast, directed a production in which Lady Bracknell, played by Irene Handl ,
968-422: A play which raises no principle, whether of art or morals, creates its own canons and conventions, and is nothing but an absolutely wilful expression of an irrepressibly witty personality?" In The Speaker , A. B. Walkley admired the play and was one of few to see it as the culmination of Wilde's dramatic career. He denied that the term "farce" was derogatory or even lacking in seriousness and said, "It
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#17327937409911056-705: A series of legal trials from March to May 1895 which resulted in Wilde's conviction and imprisonment for homosexual acts. Despite the play's early success, Wilde's disgrace caused it to be closed in May after 86 performances. After his release from prison in 1897 he published the play from exile in Paris, but he wrote no more comic or dramatic works. From the early 20th century onwards the play has been revived frequently in English-speaking countries and elsewhere. After
1144-545: A severe chill, a story undermined by Algernon's presence in the guise of Ernest. Gwendolen now enters, having left the Bracknells' London house without her mother's knowledge. During the temporary absence of the two men she meets Cecily. They get along well at first, but when they learn of the other's engagement each indignantly declares that she is the one engaged to Ernest. When Jack and Algernon reappear together, Gwendolen and Cecily realise they have been deceived; they leave
1232-576: A trend to "age-blind" casting: the average age of the cast was nearly seventy, and Jarvis and Havers reprised the roles they had played at the National in 1982. In 2024 the Royal Exchange Theatre , Manchester presented an updated version, described by The Guardian as "a convincing stab at a 21st-century makeover". Wilde's two final comedies, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest , were still on stage in London at
1320-558: A trivial nature. Blackmail and corruption had haunted the double lives of Dorian Gray and Sir Robert Chiltern (in An Ideal Husband ), but in Earnest the protagonists' duplicity (Algernon's "Bunburying" and Worthing's double life as Jack and Ernest) is for more innocent purposes – largely to evade unwelcome social obligations. While much theatre of the time tackled serious social and political issues, Wilde's writing in this play
1408-426: Is irresistible ... increasing in intensity until in the third and last act it becomes uproarious". In contrast with much theatre of the time, the light plot of The Importance of Being Earnest does not address serious social and political issues, and this troubled some contemporary reviewers. Though unsure of Wilde's seriousness as a dramatist, they recognised the play's cleverness, humour and popularity. Shaw found
1496-512: Is of nonsense all compact, and better nonsense, I think, our stage has not seen". H. G. Wells , in an unsigned review for The Pall Mall Gazette , called the play one of the freshest comedies of the year, saying, "More humorous dealing with theatrical conventions it would be difficult to imagine". He also questioned whether people would fully see its message, "... how Serious People will take this Trivial Comedy intended for their learning remains to be seen. No doubt seriously". The play
1584-499: Is quite a good play. I remember I wrote one very like it myself, but it was even more brilliant than this", but the three-act version usually performed is widely considered more effective than Wilde's four-act original. The play was first produced at the St James's Theatre, London, on 14 February – Valentine's Day – 1895, preceded by a curtain-raiser , a short comedy called In the Season , by Langdon E. Mitchell . During most of
1672-440: Is resolved by the return of Miss Prism, whom Lady Bracknell recognises as the person who, 28 years earlier as a family nursemaid, had taken a baby boy out in a perambulator from Lord Bracknell's house and never returned. Challenged, Miss Prism explains that she had absent-mindedly put into the perambulator the manuscript of a novel she was writing, and put the baby in a handbag, which she later left at Victoria Station. Jack produces
1760-409: Is the antithesis of that of didactic writers like Shaw who used their characters to present audiences with grand ideals and appeals for social justice. The play repeatedly mocks Victorian traditions and social customs – marriage and the pursuit of love in particular. In Victorian times earnestness was considered by some to be the overriding societal value; originating in religious attempts to reform
1848-487: Is the younger of two sons of Sir Michael Havers (later Lord Havers), a barrister who became a controversial Attorney General for England and Wales and, briefly, Lord Chancellor in the Conservative Government in the 1980s. His paternal aunt, Lady Butler-Sloss , his grandfather Sir Cecil Havers and elder brother Philip Havers KC also had prominent legal careers. His paternal uncle, David Havers,
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#17327937409911936-690: The Aldwych Theatre , starring Maggie Smith , had occasional references to a conjectural gay subtext . The play was presented in Singapore in 2004 by the British Theatre Playhouse , and the same company took the production to Greenwich Theatre , London, in 2005. In 2007 Peter Gill directed the play at the Theatre Royal, Bath . The production went on a short UK tour before playing in the West End in 2008. Since
2024-470: The Army Lists and discovers that his father's name – and hence his own original christening name – was, in fact, Ernest. As the happy couples embrace – Ernest and Gwendolen, Algernon and Cecily, and even Dr Chasuble and Miss Prism – Lady Bracknell complains to her newfound relative: "My nephew, you seem to be displaying signs of triviality". He replies, "On the contrary, Aunt Augusta: I've now realized for
2112-487: The Eton education traditional to his family (except his father, who was educated at Westminster School ), because he thought that fagging "sounded frightful". Havers is most known for "playing the quintessential, old school Englishman with his dashing good looks, cut-glass accent and thoroughly charming manner". Havers's first acting job was in the radio series Mrs Dale's Diary and he subsequently went on to working for
2200-681: The Granada Television daytime series Crown Court , in which he played a hapless heroin addict , Patrick Mills, who stands trial on a series of drug offences. His first film appearance was a small part in Pope Joan (1972) and he was a character in The Glittering Prizes (1976), but his first major success came with the leading role in a BBC dramatisation of Nicholas Nickleby (1977), closely followed by another BBC drama serial, A Horseman Riding By (1978). By
2288-624: The Prospect Theatre Company initially "carrying a spear and making cups of tea" as he puts it in his autobiography. In the 70s he was a researcher for nine years on the Jimmy Young radio show, particularly responsible for enticing politicians thanks to his father's contacts, including helping obtain Margaret Thatcher 's first radio interview. From an early age Havers had an eye for the ladies; Kenneth More ,
2376-496: The 1920s onwards and for television since the 1930s, filmed for the cinema on three occasions (directed by Anthony Asquith in 1952, Kurt Baker in 1992 and Oliver Parker in 2002) and turned into operas and musicals. The play is set in "The Present" (1895 at the time of the premiere). Algernon Moncrieff's flat in Half Moon Street Algernon Moncrieff, a young man about town , is visited by
2464-660: The 1981 British film Chariots of Fire , which earned him a BAFTA nomination; as Dr. Rawlins in the 1987 Steven Spielberg war drama Empire of the Sun ; and as Ronny in the 1984 David Lean epic A Passage to India . Television roles include Tom Latimer in the British TV comedy series Don't Wait Up and Lewis Archer in Coronation Street , between 2009 and 2019. Havers was born in Edmonton , Middlesex, and
2552-466: The 1987 Whitehall version, some other productions have cast a male actor in the role of Lady Bracknell. In 2005 the Abbey Theatre , Dublin, presented the play with an all-male cast; it also featured Wilde as a character – the play opened with him drinking in a Parisian café, dreaming of his play. The Melbourne Theatre Company staged a production in 2011 with Geoffrey Rush as Lady Bracknell. In
2640-484: The 2011 Christmas Special episode of television show Downton Abbey , Havers portrayed Lord Hepworth, a charming and hopeful suitor of wealthy Lady Rosamund Painswick , the widowed sister of the Earl of Grantham played by Samantha Bond . In the episode, Hepworth is discovered having an affair with Lady Rosamund's maid and outed as a "fortune hunter." Series creator Julian Fellowes remarked in his book of teleplays for
2728-603: The Devonshire Hospital in London. Things were resolved in his mind when he took on a role in the TV film, Naked Under Capricorn , which was filmed in Alice Springs , Australia . He describes in his autobiography wrangling a herd of cattle and catching sight in the distance of a figure who turned out to be Williams. The couple got married in 1989, and the marriage lasted until her death on 24 June 2004. A blessing
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2816-536: The KGB is looking for them. As they resist going back to Russia, the ex-spies lead the KGB, CIA , and MI5 on a madcap chase through England. Havers appeared on This Is Your Life in 1992, having been surprised by host Michael Aspel at Twickenham Film Studios. He later wrote an autobiography , titled Playing with Fire , which was published in October 2006 by Headline Publishing Group. In 2009, Havers appeared in
2904-508: The Lady Bracknell of his aunt, Mabel Terry-Lewis . An Old Vic production in 1934 featured the husband-and-wife team of Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester as Chasuble and Miss Prism; others in the cast were Roger Livesey (Jack), George Curzon (Algernon), Athene Seyler (Lady Bracknell), Flora Robson (Gwendolen) and Ursula Jeans (Cecily). On Broadway, Estelle Winwood co-starred with Clifton Webb and Hope Williams in
2992-604: The Manor House, Woolton Cecily is studying with her governess, Miss Prism, in the (fictitious) village of Woolton, Hertfordshire. Algernon arrives, pretending to be Ernest Worthing, and soon charms Cecily. Long fascinated by her uncle Jack's hitherto-absent dissolute brother, she is predisposed to fall for Algernon in his role of Ernest. Algernon plans for the rector , Dr Chasuble, to rechristen him "Ernest". Jack has decided to abandon his double life. He arrives in full mourning and announces his brother's death in Paris, from
3080-711: The U.S. television drama Brothers & Sisters , and the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures . On 18 December 2009, he first appeared in the British soap (broadcast on the ITV network) Coronation Street playing the charming escort Lewis Archer , who woos Audrey Roberts . He left on 13 August 2010. He returned to the role on 17 February 2012 and left again on 1 February 2013. He returned again on 1 June 2018 and remained in Coronation Street until
3168-482: The benefit of his young ward , the heiress Cecily Cardew, and goes by the name of John or Jack, while pretending that he must worry about a wastrel younger brother in London, named Ernest. Meanwhile, he assumes the identity of the profligate Ernest when in town. Algernon confesses a similar deception: he pretends to have a sickly friend named Bunbury in the country, whom he can "visit" whenever he wishes to avoid an unwelcome social obligation. Jack refuses to tell Algernon
3256-581: The book's presentation and insisting that a playbill from the first performance be reproduced inside. Ellmann argues that the proofs show a man "very much in command of himself and of the play". Wilde's name did not appear on the cover, which stated: "By the Author of Lady Windermere's Fan ". His return to work was brief, as he refused to write anything else: "I can write, but have lost the joy of writing". The Importance of Being Earnest ' s popularity has meant it has been translated into many languages, but
3344-605: The cast rehearsing what I had perfected over the past few months. My time was up. She blew me a kiss and I slid away. Actually, I was rather relieved, I needed a rest." After his theatre work, Havers slid into a period of acting unemployment , during which time he worked for a wine merchant . He ended this part of his career when his girlfriend, who later became his first wife, Carolyn Cox, suggested they move in together in 1974. In 1975, Havers's career began to pick up with an appearance in Upstairs, Downstairs , appearing in one of
3432-399: The character's death on 1 January 2019. In November 2010, Havers became a contestant on the tenth series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! , which started on 14 November 2010. On 21 November, Havers left the show after vehemently objecting to a challenge called Kangaroo Court in which contestants who lost the challenge would be subjected to an electric shock. As a guest star in
3520-407: The daughter of actor Hugh Williams and the sister of his friend, the actor Simon Williams . He has stated that he had several affairs during his first marriage, which he now regrets. Havers has written of the depression he experienced trying to choose between his marriage to Carolyn Cox and their young daughter Kate, born in 1977, and his mistress. During this time, he consulted a psychiatrist at
3608-406: The early 20th century, it was The Importance of Being Earnest that received the most productions. The critic and author Max Beerbohm called the play Wilde's "finest, most undeniably his own", saying that the plots of his other comedies – Lady Windermere's Fan , A Woman of No Importance and An Ideal Husband – follow the manner of Victorien Sardou , and are similarly unrelated to the theme of
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3696-467: The first Broadway revival, by Charles Frohman 's Empire Stock Company later in 1902, the playbills and the reviews restored the author's name. Alexander presented the work again at the St James's in 1909, when he and Aynesworth reprised their original roles; that revival ran for 316 performances. Max Beerbohm said that the play was sure to become a classic of the English repertory and that its humour
3784-489: The first production, which featured George Alexander , Allan Aynesworth and Irene Vanbrugh among others, many actors have been associated with the play, including Mabel Terry-Lewis , John Gielgud , Edith Evans , Margaret Rutherford , Martin Jarvis , Nigel Havers and Judi Dench . The role of the redoubtable Lady Bracknell has sometimes been played by men. The Importance of Being Earnest has been adapted for radio from
3872-479: The first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest". The Importance of Being Earnest followed the success of Wilde's earlier drawing room plays , Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893) and An Ideal Husband (1895). He spent the summer of 1894 with his family at Worthing , on the Sussex coast, where he began work on the new play. Wilde scholars generally agree that
3960-412: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tiobe&oldid=933211209 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages The Importance of Being Earnest The Importance of Being Earnest,
4048-453: The location of his country estate. Gwendolen and her formidable mother, Lady Bracknell, now call on Algernon, who distracts Lady Bracknell in another room while Jack proposes to Gwendolen. She accepts but says she could not love him if his name were not Ernest. He resolves secretly to be rechristened. Discovering the two in this intimate exchange, Lady Bracknell interviews Jack as a prospective suitor for her daughter. Horrified to learn that he
4136-519: The lower classes, it spread to the middle and upper classes during the mid-19th century. The play's subtitle introduces the theme, which continues in the discussion between Jack and Algernon in Act I: "Yes, but you must be serious about it. I hate people who are not serious about meals. It is so shallow of them". Nigel Havers Nigel Allan Havers (born 6 November 1951) is an English actor and presenter. His film roles include Lord Andrew Lindsay in
4224-555: The men in the garden and withdraw to the house. Morning-room at the Manor House, Woolton Gwendolen and Cecily forgive the men's trickery. Arriving in pursuit of her daughter, Lady Bracknell is astonished to be told that Algernon and Cecily are engaged. The revelation of Cecily's wealth soon dispels Lady Bracknell's initial doubts over the young lady's suitability, but any engagement is forbidden by her guardian , Jack: he will consent only if Lady Bracknell agrees to his own union with Gwendolen – something she declines to do. The impasse
4312-626: The month-long rehearsal period Wilde was on holiday in Algeria with his gay partner, Lord Alfred Douglas , but he returned in time for the dress rehearsal on 12 February. Douglas remained in Algiers; his father, the Marquess of Queensberry , planned to disrupt the premiere by throwing a bouquet of rotten vegetables at the playwright when he took his bow at the end. Wilde learned of the plan and Alexander cancelled Queensberry's ticket and arranged for
4400-488: The most important influence on the play was W. S. Gilbert 's 1877 farce Engaged , from which Wilde borrowed not only several incidents but also, in the words of Russell Jackson in his 1980 introduction to Wilde's play, "the gravity of tone demanded by Gilbert of his actors". Wilde's first draft was so long that it filled four exercise books , and over the summer he continually revised and refined it, as he had done with his earlier plays. Among his many changes he altered
4488-559: 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 precisely because it is consistently trivial that it is not ugly". Salome , An Ideal Husband and The Picture of Dorian Gray had dwelt on more serious wrongdoing, but vice in The Importance of Being Earnest is represented by Algernon's greedy consumption of cucumber sandwiches . Wilde told his friend Robbie Ross that
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#17327937409914576-482: The name Ernest while wooing the two young women of their affections. The play, celebrated for its wit and repartee, parodies contemporary dramatic norms, gently satirises late Victorian manners, and introduces – in addition to the two pairs of young lovers – the formidable Lady Bracknell, the fussy governess Miss Prism and the benign and scholarly Canon Chasuble. Contemporary reviews in Britain and overseas praised
4664-498: The ninth series of the sitcom Benidorm , in 2017, returning as the same character for the tenth series in 2018. He also joined fellow celebrities Simon Callow , Lorraine Chase , and Debbie McGee on the Channel 5 (UK) show, Celebrity Carry On Barging , later that year. December 2024, he is the narrator of the new Channel 4 series Help! We Bought a Hotel (UK) In the mid-1980s, Havers began an affair with Polly Williams,
4752-447: The original or creating a similar pun in their own language. Some translators leave all characters' names unchanged and in their original spelling: readers are reminded of the original cultural setting, but the liveliness of the pun is lost. Others, favouring comprehensibility over fidelity to the original, have replaced Ernest with a name that also represents a virtue in the target language. For instance, Italian versions variously call
4840-503: The play L'importanza di essere Franco/Severo/Fedele , the given names being respectively the values of honesty, propriety and fidelity. Translators differ in their approach to the original English honorific titles; some change them all or none, but most leave a mix, partly as a compensation for the loss of Englishness. French offers a closer pun. According to Les Archives du spectacle in its listing of productions in French since 1954,
4928-465: The play "extremely funny" but "heartless", a view he maintained all his life. His review in the Saturday Review argued that comedy should touch as well as amuse: "I go to the theatre to be moved to laughter, not to be tickled or bustled into it". In The World , William Archer wrote that he had enjoyed watching the play but found it to be empty of meaning: "What can a poor critic do with
5016-481: The play "met with enthusiastic and unanimous approval" and confidently predicted "a long and prosperous run". Aynesworth was "debonair and stylish", and Alexander, who played Jack Worthing, "demure"; according to The Era , "Mr George Alexander played Worthing just as a part of this sort should be played, i.e., with entire seriousness and no indication of purposed irony". The Morning Post said that Irene Vanbrugh and Evelyn Millard could not be bettered and caught
5104-453: The play creates "an 'as if' world in which 'real' values are inverted, reason and unreason are interchanged and the probable defined by improbability". Contributors to The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde (1997) variously refer to the play as "high farce", "an ostensible farce", "farce with aggressive pranks, quick-paced action and evasion of moral responsibility", and "high comedy". Ransome described The Importance of Being Earnest as
5192-515: The play for production at his theatre , but before rehearsals began, he changed his plans in order to help a beleaguered colleague, the actor-manager George Alexander of the St James's Theatre . In early 1895 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. Wyndham waived his contractual rights and allowed Alexander to stage Wilde's play. After working with Wilde on stage movements, using
5280-418: The play's humour, although some critics had reservations about its lack of social messages. The successful opening night marked the climax of Wilde's career but was followed within weeks by his downfall. The Marquess of Queensberry , whose son Lord Alfred Douglas was Wilde's lover, unsuccessfully schemed to throw a bouquet of rotten vegetables at the playwright at the end of the performance. This feud led to
5368-501: The play's theme was "That we should treat all trivial things in life very seriously, and all serious things of life with a sincere and studied triviality". The theme is glanced at in the play's title, and earnestness is repeatedly alluded to in the dialogue; Algernon says in Act II, "one must be serious about something if one is to have any amusement in life", but goes on to reproach Jack for being serious about everything and thus revealing
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#17327937409915456-579: The police know who I am." He was criticised for these comments by John Knight, co-founder of the Campaign against Drinking and Driving, while a spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers said "I think he's probably a little bit out of touch with public feeling." On 8 June 2007, Havers married Essex native Georgiana "George" Bronfman (née Rita Webb), in New York City . Bronfman
5544-518: The police to bar his entrance. Wilde wrote to Douglas, "He arrived with a prize fighter !! I had all Scotland Yard to guard the theatre. He prowled around for three hours, then left chattering like a monstrous ape". Queensberry left the bouquet at the theatre entrance. Wilde arrived for the premiere dressed in "florid sobriety", wearing a green carnation in his lapel. Allan Aynesworth , who played Algernon Moncrieff, recalled to Hesketh Pearson : The theatrical newspaper The Era reported that
5632-473: The production by removing the author's name from the playbills, but it closed on 8 May after only 83 performances. The play's original Broadway production opened at the Empire Theatre on 22 April 1895 but closed after sixteen performances. Its cast included William Faversham as Algernon, Henry Miller as Jack, Viola Allen as Gwendolen and Ida Vernon as Lady Bracknell. The Australian premiere
5720-463: The pun in the title (" Ernest ", a masculine proper name, and " earnest ", steadfast and serious) poses a special problem for translators . The simplest instance of a suitable translation of the pun is in German, where ernst (serious) and Ernst (given name) are the same. As wordplay is usually unique to the language in question, translators are faced with a choice of either staying faithful to
5808-634: The required Gilbertian tone. The Observer remarked on the "rapturous amusement" of the audience, and echoed The Era' s prediction of a long run. According to the published text, the characters, descriptions and cast comprised: Queensberry continued harassing Wilde, who within weeks launched a private prosecution against him for criminal libel , triggering a series of trials that revealed Wilde's homosexual private life and ended in his imprisonment for gross indecency in May 1895. The Victorian public turned against him after his arrest, and box-office receipts dwindled rapidly; Alexander tried to save
5896-420: The same handbag, showing that he is the lost baby, the eldest son of Lady Bracknell's late sister, and thus Algernon's elder brother. Having acquired such respectable relations, he is acceptable as Gwendolen's suitor. Gwendolen continues to insist that she can love only a man named Ernest. Lady Bracknell tells Jack that, as the firstborn, he would have been named after his father, General Moncrieff. Jack examines
5984-637: The same year the Roundabout Theatre Company presented a Broadway revival based on the 2009 Stratford Shakespeare Festival production featuring its director, Brian Bedford , as Lady Bracknell. At the Vaudeville Theatre , London, in 2015, David Suchet took the role in a production directed by Adrian Noble . In 2014 at the Harold Pinter Theatre , London, Lucy Bailey directed a production that followed
6072-575: The same year, Gielgud presented the work again, with Jack Hawkins as Algernon, Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as Gwendolen and Peggy Ashcroft as Cecily, with Evans and Rutherford in their previous roles. The production was presented in several seasons during and after the Second World War, with mostly the same principal players. During a 1946 season at the Haymarket, the King and Queen attended
6160-660: The second series of Downton Abbey that "no one in Equity is better" than Havers "at playing a cad." In July 2012, Havers presented a programme on ITV called The Real Chariots of Fire , a documentary about the runners who inspired the film Chariots of Fire . In 2014, he played Tony Pebble in The Life of Rock with Brian Pern , a BBC Four comedy which parodied the life and career of former Genesis singer, Peter Gabriel . On 25 January 2015, Havers took part in celebrity talent show Get Your Act Together . Havers appeared in
6248-475: The series' last episodes, "Joke Over" as Peter Dinmont, one of Georgina's ( Lesley-Anne Down ) Roaring Twenties "party" friends. Dinmont is in the Rolls-Royce when Georgina accidentally kills a farmer on a bicycle. Dinmont refuses to testify on Georgina's behalf at a preliminary trial, as he was passed out drunk in the back seat and did not witness the accident. It was also in 1975 that Havers appeared in
6336-501: The story entirely on the Earnest/Ernest verbal conceit. Freed from "living up to any drama more serious than conversation", Wilde could now amuse himself to a fuller extent with "quips, bons mots , epigrams and repartee that had really nothing to do with the business at hand". The academic Sos Eltis comments that although Wilde's earliest and longest handwritten drafts of the play are full of "farcical accidents, broad puns and
6424-435: The subtitle from "a Serious Comedy for Trivial People" to "a Trivial Comedy for Serious People", and renamed the characters Lady Brancaster and Algernon Montford as Lady Bracknell and Algernon Moncrieff. Wilde wrote the part of John Worthing with the actor-manager Charles Wyndham in mind. Wilde shared Bernard Shaw's view that Wyndham was the ideal comedy actor and based the character on his stage persona. Wyndham accepted
6512-682: The time he appeared in the film Chariots of Fire (1981), he had become a familiar face on British television. Despite his work in such films as A Passage to India (1984), Empire of the Sun (1987) and Farewell to the King (1989), he never became a film star, but has continued in a succession of starring roles on television. He co-starred for several years in the 1980s BBC sitcom Don't Wait Up (1983–1990) alongside Dinah Sheridan and Tony Britton . He also starred in The Little Princess (1986) with Maureen Lipman , which won him
6600-485: The time of his prosecution in 1895, and they were soon closed as the details of his case became public. After two years in prison with hard labour, Wilde went into exile in Paris, sick and depressed, his reputation destroyed in England. In 1898 Leonard Smithers agreed with Wilde to publish the two final plays. Wilde proved to be a diligent reviser, sending detailed instructions on stage directions, character listings and
6688-408: The title of the play is most often given as L'Importance d'être Constant , but has also been rendered as L'Importance d'être sérieux , Il est important d'être aimé , Il est important d'être Désiré and Il est important d'être Fidèle . The novelist and critic Arthur Ransome argued that Wilde freed himself by abandoning the melodrama of his earlier drawing room plays and basing
6776-701: The work, while in The Importance of Being Earnest the story is "dissolved" into the form of the play. By the time of its centenary in 1995 the journalist Mark Lawson described the piece as "the second most known and quoted play in English after Hamlet ". The Importance of Being Earnest and Wilde's three other drawing room plays were performed in Britain during the author's imprisonment and exile by small touring groups. A. B. Tapping's company toured The Importance between October 1895 and March 1896, and Elsie Lanham's touring company presented it along with Lady Windermere's Fan , beginning in November 1899. The play
6864-478: The young actors Gerald Ames and A. E. Matthews succeeded the creators as Jack and Algernon. Leslie Faber as Jack, John Deverell as Algernon and Margaret Scudamore as Lady Bracknell headed the cast in a 1923 production at the Haymarket Theatre . Revivals in the first decades of the 20th century treated "the present" as the current year. It was not until the 1920s that the case for 1890s costumes
6952-741: Was a Manchester-based businessman. Havers took part in the BBC TV series Who Do You Think You Are? , broadcast in the UK in July 2013. As part of the show he explored his ancestry from an Essex businessman, on his father's side, and a Cornish miller on his mother's side. Havers was educated at Nowton Court Prep School in Bury St Edmunds , Suffolk and the Arts Educational School , an independent school in London, opting against
7040-430: Was adopted – having been found as a baby in a handbag deposited at Victoria Station in London – she refuses him and forbids further contact with her daughter. Gwendolen manages to covertly promise to him her undying love. As Jack gives her his address in the country, Algernon surreptitiously notes it on the cuff of his sleeve: Jack's revelation of his pretty young ward has motivated his friend to meet her. The Garden of
7128-400: Was as fresh then as when it had been written, adding that the actors had "worn as well as the play". The play was revived on Broadway in 1910 with a cast that included Hamilton Revelle , A. E. Matthews and Jane Oaker . The New York Times commented that the play "has lost nothing of its humor ... no one with a sense of humor can afford to miss it". For a 1913 revival at the St James's,
7216-574: 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. ... Wilde's glittering and complex verbal felicities go ill with the shingle and the short skirt ". In Nigel Playfair 's 1930 production at the Lyric , Hammersmith , John Gielgud played Jack to
7304-571: Was given a German accent. For Peter Hall 's 1982 production at the National Theatre the cast included Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell, Martin Jarvis as Jack, Nigel Havers as Algernon, Zoë Wanamaker as Gwendolen and Anna Massey as Miss Prism. In 1987 a version of the play was given at the Whitehall Theatre starring Hinge and Bracket as Miss Prism and Lady Bracknell respectively. Nicholas Hytner 's 1993 production at
7392-530: Was held in Saint Tropez the following month. Following his wife's death, Havers took legal action, claiming her will left him without "reasonable financial provision". The case was settled before court; Havers was awarded £375,000 and proceeds from the sale of some of his late wife's belongings. Havers was arrested in February 1990 on suspicion of drunk driving, and taken to Harrow police station. He
7480-725: Was in Melbourne on 10 August 1895, presented by Robert Brough and Dion Boucicault Jr. , with Cecil Ward as Jack, Boucicault as Algernon and Jenny Watt-Tanner as Lady Bracknell. The production was an immediate success. Wilde's downfall in England did not affect the popularity of his plays in Australia. The same company presented the New Zealand premiere in October 1895, when the play was enthusiastically received. Reviewers said, "in subtlety of thought, brilliancy of wit and sparkling humour, it has scarcely been excelled"; and "its fun
7568-407: Was later banned from driving for one year, and fined £500, but told a woman's magazine "I don't regret it at all". He continued, "I thought the whole thing was pretty unfair. I was only 300 yards from home in a restaurant and had only used my car anyway because it was pouring with rain." He said "I got the same punishment as people who are three times over the limit. I felt victimised, especially as
7656-521: Was so light-hearted that some reviewers compared it to comic opera rather than drama. W. H. Auden later (1963) called it "a pure verbal opera", and The Times commented, "The story is almost too preposterous to go without music". Mary McCarthy , in Sights and Spectacles (1959), despite thinking the play extremely funny, called it "a ferocious idyll"; "depravity is the hero and the only character". As Wilde's works came to be read and performed again in
7744-543: Was well received; one local critic described it as "sparkling with wit and epigrams", and another called it "a most entertaining comedy [with] some sparkling dialogue". The play was not seen again in London until after Wilde's death in 1900. Alexander revived it in the small Coronet theatre in Notting Hill , outside the West End, in December the following year, after taking it on tour, starring as John Worthing, with
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