National Theatre Live: The Importance of Being Earnest

Jack Worthing invented a brother named Ernest to escape his country duties for London adventures. His friend Algernon Moncrieff employs a fictitious invalid friend, Bunbury, for similar metropolitan escapes. Both gentlemen fall in love—Jack with Algernon's cousin Gwendolen, and Algernon with Jack's ward, Cecily. The complication is that both young ladies are determined to marry a man named Ernest. Oscar Wilde's classic comedy of manners, captured for the National Theatre Live series in 2025, turns Victorian social conventions into a brilliant farce. The dialogue sparkles with wit as characters discuss the most absurd situations with utter seriousness. The production reminds us that in art, the truest things are often said in the most artificial way.