Oscar Wilde's Victorian comedy of manners is a perfect play for the picturesque setting of Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, not least because it has the bygone feel of a summer evening on a country estate where picnics on the lawn and outdoor entertainment over a splash of Chateauneuf-du-Pape were simply de rigueur. The Importance of Being Earnest with its wonderful upper-crust nonsense and absurdly lovable characters is just an extension of this world; one where the whims and follies of the upper classes fritter the time away. Ernest is the alter ego of Jack who assumes this rakish persona when he visits London; he wants to marry Gwendolen, the cousin of his best friend Algernon, but Gwendolen thinks Jack to be Ernest and Algernon also pretends to be Ernest to woo Jack's pretty niece Cecily. And let's not forget the formidable Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen's mother, in the midst of this fluster. There really are some delicious lines - Lady B's exclamation of "A handbag?" is one of the more famous in a play that delights in snobbery and satire.
£10-£42 (Mon to Thu and Sat mats), £18-£45 (Fri & Sat), £20 (Under 18s), £15 (OAPs weekday mats in advance), £10/£18 (Disabled & one companion), £12.50 (Standbys for concs)
London Location Map of The Importance Of Being Earnest
Open Air Theatre
Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, NW1 4NR
25th May - 12th September 2009
This is the 77th season for the Open Air Theatre, Regent's... More
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, NW1 4NR
8th July - 2nd August 2008
This is the 76th season for the Open Air Theatre,... More
25 minutes walk from The Importance Of Being Earnest
We all remember those rocking nuns in Sister Act, the 1992 film, led by a kick-ass Whoopi Goldberg as the irrepressible Deloris. Now Goldberg's getting ...More
28 minutes walk from The Importance Of Being Earnest
A Freddie Mercury soundalike leads the Bohemians in a rebellion against the boy and girl bands who control Planet Mall, under the leadership of the ...More
9 minutes walk from The Importance Of Being Earnest
Every Saturday, Cabbages and Frocks Market makes a welcome return to Marylebone, making a weekend stroll up the pretty high street an even more attractive ...More
11 minutes walk from The Importance Of Being Earnest
There's much excitement surrounding the opening ceremony for the Marylebone Christmas Lights with live bands, fireworks, an open-air market and TV presenter Zoe Salmon officially ...More
9 minutes walk from The Importance Of Being Earnest
In 1835, Marie Tussaud - former sculptor to the court of Louis XVI - established a sideshow of waxworks of famous contemporary and historical figures ... More
11 minutes walk from The Importance Of Being Earnest
Located within the University of Westminster - Marylebone's campus, the vast 14,000 foot P3 exhibition and performance space - a former concrete-testing facility - is ...More
9 minutes walk from The Importance Of Being Earnest
Every Saturday a welcome addition comes to Marylebone, making a weekend stroll up the pretty high street an even more attractive proposition. On Saturdays the ... More
11 minutes walk from The Importance Of Being Earnest
Elvis-themed shop come museum.
London’s Baker Street seems the natural location for a shop selling Sherlock Holmes memorabilia – deer stalkers, pipes, violin cases. Visitors to ... More
8 minutes walk from The Importance Of Being Earnest
Located in a 16th-century coaching inn, this sweet little gastropub offers diners the choice of just nibbling on a little tapas, or going for a ... More
9 minutes walk from The Importance Of Being Earnest
In an era when eating in London seems to be all about wacky ingredients, flashy decor and crazy gimmicks, this wonderfully refined comtemporary Spanish restaurant ... More
Park Office,
Storeyard ( Inner Circle),Marylebone,
London,
NW1Map
Elegant park designed by John Nash.
Another of London’s spectacular John Nash creations, Regent’s Park is a huge, thriving green expanse in the heart of the ... More
12 minutes walk from The Importance Of Being Earnest
A New York-themed bar, whose location in the dismal backwaters of Euston, and unprepossessing exterior only add to the charm of its speakeasy-style interior. Indian ...More
Oscar Wilde's Victorian comedy of manners is a perfect play for the picturesque setting of 
