The Importance Of Being Earnest

Noel Coward Theatre

4.5/5 based on 72 reviews (read reviews)

Opens: Wednesday, 17 September 2025 -
Booking until: Saturday, 10 January 2026
Running time: 2hr 45min. Incl. 1 interval.

Couples (93%) Theatregoers (97%) i

The Importance Of Being Earnest description

Oscar Wilde's iconic satire heads to the West End this Autumn!

Welcome to The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde's best-loved play and a brilliant social comedy loved just as much more than 125 years after its debut. Satirical, witty, acidic and fantastically funny, it heads to the West End following a successful run at the National Theatre.

Reimagined by the brilliant Max Webster

Reimagined once more, this time by director Max Webster (Donmar's Macbeth, Life of Pi), the show stars the actor and singer-songwriter Olly Alexander, who takes on the role of Algernon Moncrieff.

The production features set and costume design by Rae Smith, lighting by Jon Clark, sound by Nicola T. Chang, composition by DJ Walde, movement direction by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, and casting by Alastair Coomer CDG.

A farce that never grows old

This is one of the best-loved British comedy plays... ever. The humour resonates down the decades from the 1890s, arriving in the 2020s just as fresh and exciting. Made into three movies and on stage more or less constantly somewhere in the world, it explores the tail end of the strict Victorian era, a time when appearances meant everything. Oscar Wilde laughed at the social conventions of the times, a risky business considering he was busy flouting them, openly homosexual at a time when it was illegal to be gay.

The story reflects the times perfectly. Jack and Algernon are rich and posh. Jack lives quietly and respectably in the countryside. But he's bored silly. He has created a fictional little brother who he uses as an excuse to go to London and have a good time. His friend Algy, who lives in London, has also created a handy imaginary friend, poorly 'Bunbury', who he visits in the countryside whenever he wants to avoid a dull social occasion.

Jack wants to marry Algy's cousin Gwendolen but her mum Lady Bracknell doesn't approve since Jack was abandoned as a baby in a handbag at Victoria station, parents and background unknown. Algy, who is pretending to be called Ernest, visits Jack, meets Cecily and falls in love. But when Jack decides to tell everyone Ernest is dead, things start to go horribly, hilariously wrong.

Prepare for an unforgettable, bold and brash Wilde reboot" (The Times) that will leave you beaming with joy this Autumn.