Oscar Wilde’s last and most famous play, The Importance of Being Earnest—performed by The Town & Gown Players and directed by Bryn Adamson—doesn’t attempt to tackle serious social or political issues by offering up moral resolutions. Instead, this farcical comedy is a clever, light-hearted satire on aristocratic idleness—mocking traditions, social customs and courtship in particular—simply for the sake of triviality. Set in Victorian London, the protagonists lead double lives in order to avoid their social obligations. John Worthing (played by Patrick Najjar) visits the city as libertine Ernest to propose to his friend Algeron Moncrieff’s (Nathan Altman) cousin, Gwendoline Fairfax (Katie Andrew), yet in the country is known to his wealthy ward Cecily Cardew (Emma Atchley) as Jack, who is constantly making trips to the city to visit his black sheep brother, Ernest. And that’s just the first layer of pretense. Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows begin at 8 p.m., and Sunday shows begin at 2:30 p.m. Tickets range between $12–15.
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