Synopsis

Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest tells the story of two young gentlemen in London, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, who each live a double-life, creating elaborate deceptions to find some balance in their lives. When Jack falls in love with Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolen, he is determined to come clean, but when Gwendolen reveals she can only love a man named Ernest, it somewhat complicates things. When Algernon discovers Jack’s secret, the situation gets entirely more complicated. Hijinks ensue, and the two gentlemen and their ladies are in for more than they ever anticipated when formidable Lady Bracknell begins sleuthing around to uncover the far-fetched truth. Wilde's brilliant comedy captures with wit and charm the absurdity and delight of the Victorian "age of surfaces" (as Lady Bracknell calls it,) while capturing the struggle of four passionate lovers trying to conform to expectations and, in the most roundabout and delightfully funny way possible, love who they wish and live how they want.

Content Warnings

This show contains mature themes and depictions of smoking.

Show Dates

Thursday 12th June, 7:30pm - 10pm.

Friday 13th June, 7:30pm - 10pm.

Saturday 14th June, 1pm - 3:30pm.

Saturday 14th of June, 7:30pm - 10pm.

Each performance will include a 15 minute intermission.

Location

Kaleide Theatre, RMIT City Campus, 360 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Accessibility

Saturday 14th 1pm performance will feature captioning. The Kaleide Theatre is a wheelchair accessible venue.

Acknowledgement

RMIT RedActs acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we rehearse and perform this story. RMIT RedActs respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. Sovereignty has never been ceded. It always was and always will be, Aboriginal land.