The Importance of Being Earnest

Two young men of high society lie to escape their obligations. Jack, a serious guardian in the country, has invented a younger brother whose name he takes when he goes to London to enjoy himself; Algernon has invented a sick friend, Bunbury, whom he claims to visit whenever a social duty bores him. Two young women, each determined to love only a man bearing that name, bring the two deceptions face to face. The play explores marriage, Victorian respectability and the conventions that its lines turn upside down one by one. Wilde builds a tight comedy in which every witty remark moves the plot forward.