Go Wilde for this comedy play on stage in Lancashire
Oscar Wilde’s timeless comedy The Importance of Being Earnest comes to the Lancashire stage in September with a brand-new production at Chorley Theatre.
Featuring some of the most quotable lines in theatre history, the play tells the story of two friends, Jack and Algernon, who lead double-lives, inventing personas for them to escape from London to the country for some fun.
At Jack’s country estate he woos Gwendaline, while Algernon romances Cecily. Soon, both girls believe they are betrothed to “Earnest Worthing” but the formidable Lady Bracknell has other ideas.
With mistaken identities, secret double lives, over-the-top coincidences, and sparkling wordplay the stage is set for a biting satire about love and conventional society.
Set in the late Victorian era, many of the play’s themes are still relevant and director Robert Walsh has filled this production with a modern energy in which the one-liners are as funny now as the day they were written.
Adam Smith stars as Jack, with Kieran Smith as Algernon, Amber Walsh as Gwendoline, Ellie Brookfield as Cecily, and Siobhan Edge as as the infamous Lady Bracknell. The cast is rounded out by Karen Butler-Thompson as Miss Prism, Simon Lloyd as the local vicar and Jacob Lee Prince in a dual role as a pair of sardonic butlers.
The play runs six nights from Monday 1st September and can be booked via www.chorleytheatre.com