The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

genre: stage play

One word? Hilarious. I laughed out loud. We have Jack and Algernon, friends, both of whom regularly assume different identities so as to easily move between town and country without causing a scene with their relatives. They both end up madly in love with women who can not possibly truly love them unless their name is Ernest.

Of course there are interfering aunties and squabbles over muffins - not to mention babies in handbags and private cigarette cases. Truly, the play is dripping with whimsy - puns on every other page. All the main characters feed off of different ideas of marriage and "earnestness" - a lack of earnestness is considered wickedly exciting while husbands and wives are ridiculed as dull. Despite that, all anyone really wants is a marriage (either for themselves or for their relations).

I think there is actually some deep stuff going on in this play - Wilde is passing judgment on Victorian ideals and mindsets, but for all that, it's just a pleasure to read. And to watch. I highly recommend it.