About:

The Importance of Being Earnest is a witty Victorian comedy about two gentlemen, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, who create fictitious identities—"Ernest" for Jack and the invalid "Bunbury" for Algernon—to escape social duties, leading to romantic complications, especially with wealthy ladies Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew, culminating in hilarious revelations about mistaken identities, lost babies, and the true meaning behind being "earnest" (sincere) versus the name itself.

Roles:

All characters are expected to have upper class British accents (RP/Posh/etc), especially Lady Bracknell.

John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing, J.P. (Age: late 20s-early 30s, Male) - The play's protagonist. Jack Worthing is a seemingly responsible and respectable young man who leads a double life. In Hertfordshire, where he has a country estate, Jack is known as Jack. In London he is known as Ernest. As a baby, Jack was discovered in a handbag in the cloakroom of Victoria Station by an old man who adopted him and subsequently made Jack guardian to his granddaughter, Cecily Cardew. Jack is in love with his friend Algernon's cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax. The initials after his name indicate that he is a Justice of the Peace. Whistling a plus

Intimacy Expectations: kiss on cheek x1, romantic embrace x2

Algernon Moncrieff (Age: late 20s-early 30s, Male) - The play's secondary hero. Algernon is a charming, idle, decorative bachelor, nephew of Lady Bracknell, cousin of Gwendolen Fairfax, and best friend of Jack Worthing, whom he has known for years as Ernest. Algernon is brilliant, witty, selfish, amoral, and given to making delightful paradoxical and epigrammatic pronouncements. He has invented a fictional friend, "Bunbury," an invalid whose frequent sudden relapses allow Algernon to wriggle out of unpleasant or dull social obligations. Eats on stage a lot. Whistling a plus.

Intimacy Expectations: Simple kiss on lips x2, kiss on cheek x1, romantic embrace x1

Gwendolen Fairfax (Age: early 20s, Female) - Algernon's cousin and Lady Bracknell's daughter. Gwendolen is in love with Jack, whom she knows as Ernest. A model and arbiter of high fashion and society, Gwendolen speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste and morality. She is sophisticated, intellectual, cosmopolitan, and utterly pretentious. Gwendolen is fixated on the name Ernest and says she will not marry a man without that name.

Intimacy  Expectations: Being kissed on cheek x1, romantic embrace x2

Cecily Cardew (Age: early 20s, Female) - Jack's ward, the granddaughter of the old gentlemen who found and adopted Jack when Jack was a baby. Cecily is probably the most realistically drawn character in the play. Like Gwendolen, she is obsessed with the name Ernest. Somewhat immature and naive, she has fallen in love with Jack's brother Ernest in her imagination and invented an elaborate romance and courtship between them.

Intimacy Expectations: Simple kiss on lips x2, being kissed on cheek x1, kiss on cheek x1, romantic embrace x1

Lady Bracknell (Age: 50-65, Female or Male*) - Algernon's snobbish, mercenary, and domineering aunt and Gwendolen's mother. Lady Bracknell married well, and her primary goal in life is to see her daughter do the same. She has a list of "eligible young men" and a prepared interview she gives to potential suitors. Like her nephew, Lady Bracknell is given to making hilarious pronouncements, but where Algernon means to be witty, the humor in Lady Bracknell's speeches is unintentional. Through the figure of Lady Bracknell, Wilde manages to satirize the hypocrisy and stupidity of the British aristocracy. Lady Bracknell values ignorance, which she sees as "a delicate exotic fruit." When she gives a dinner party, she prefers her husband to eat downstairs with the servants. She is cunning, narrow-minded, authoritarian, and possibly the most quotable character in the play.

Intimacy Expectations: being kissed on cheek x1

*Historically, this part has often been played by a man in drag. This is encouraged, but not a requirement for this production and we will cast either gender, though lady Bracknell in-universe will still be played as a woman.

Miss Prism (Age: 40-65, Female) - Cecily's governess. Miss Prism is an endless source of pedantic bromides and clichés. She highly approves of Jack's presumed respectability and harshly criticizes his "unfortunate" brother. Puritan though she is, Miss Prism's severe pronouncements have a way of going so far over the top that they inspire laughter. Despite her rigidity, Miss Prism seems to have a softer side. She speaks of having once written a novel whose manuscript was "lost" or "abandoned." Also, she entertains romantic feelings for Dr. Chasuble.

Intimacy Expectations: Romantic embrace x1

Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D. (Age: 50-65, Male) - The rector on Jack's estate. Both Jack and Algernon approach Dr. Chasuble to request that they be christened "Ernest." Dr. Chasuble entertains secret romantic feelings for Miss Prism. The initials after his name stand for "Doctor of Divinity."

Intimacy Expectations: romantic embrace x1

Lane (Age: 30-65, Male) - Algernon's manservant. When the play opens, Lane is the only person who knows about Algernon's practice of "Bunburying." Lane appears only in Act I.

Intimacy Expectations: none

Merriman (Age: 30-65, Male) - The butler at the Manor House, Jack's estate in the country. Merriman appears only in Acts II and III.

Intimacy Expectations: none

Preparation:

No advance preparation is required. All will read sides (excerpts) from the play or other materials. Pairing or group readings may also be possible.

You will fill out an information sheet before the audition. Plan to list all conflicts between the audition date and the performance dates.

Rehearsals:

More information will be given at auditions. Expect rehearsals to begin immediately.