Search

Toggle dark mode:

Saved articles

You have not yet added any article to your bookmarks!

Browse articles

GDPR Compliance

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service.

The Importance of Being Earnest

 
Pete Shaw Review by Pete Shaw 5 Published: 11 Oct 2025 Noel Coward Theatre Show Dates: 18 Sep 2025-10 Jan 2026

I have seen The Importance of Being Earnest more times than is strictly respectable. I have witnessed handbag scandals in provincial theatres, cucumber crises in college halls, and Bunburying of such varying conviction that poor Bunbury himself must be quite exhausted. Yet this latest revival at the Noel Coward Theatre – starring Stephen Fry and Olly Alexander – is, without hesitation, the funniest and most intoxicating interpretation I have ever had the pleasure (and the privilege) to endure. It glitters with the assurance that wit, when handled correctly, is far more lethal than truth.

Wilde reborn in all his glittering absurdity: wicked, wise, and, above all, outrageously funny

At the centre of this divine nonsense are two glittering curiosities: Mr Fry as Lady Bracknell and Mr Alexander as Algernon Moncrieff. Fry gives us a Bracknell so majestically upholstered she could be mistaken for one of the nation’s better-appointed institutions. His vowels are of cathedral quality, and his pauses are longer than certain engagements. When he demands, “A handbag?”, it is not a question but a verdict. Yet behind the loftiness flickers the faintest blush of amusement – a Lady who knows she is parodying herself and enjoys it immensely.

Mr Alexander, meanwhile, is a perfect Algernon: effervescent, spoiled, and heartbreakingly unserious. His every gesture is an essay in self-admiration, and rightly so. He flits through the drawing rooms of Mayfair as though he were the butterfly for whom the entire social season was invented. His Bunburying, that noble art of convenient illness, is performed with such conviction that one almost feels the urge to send flowers to the invalid himself.

Nathan Stewart-Jarrett’s Jack Worthing is a delightfully repressed counterpoint – a man whose moral fibre is stretched so tightly that one fears for his tailor. Kitty Hawthorne’s Gwendolen and Jessica Whitehurst’s Cecily spar with the elegance of duellists and the malice of debutantes. Shobna Gulati’s Miss Prism is charm itself, and Hugh Dennis turns Rev. Chasuble into a masterclass in clerical yearning.

And then there is Hayley Carmichael, as both Lane and Merriman, who bumbles through scenes with the blissful chaos of Mrs Overall serving eternity. She steals the show one teacup at a time, proving once and for all that in Wilde’s world, the butler always has the last laugh.

Under Max Webster’s direction, the production worships the text – rightly, for it is a religion in itself – yet one celebrated in a decidedly modern chapel. The words remain pure Wilde, but the glances most certainly do not. There are lingering looks between gentlemen that last a fraction too long to be merely polite, and between ladies that seem to promise a most improper friendship. One moment involves the casual caress of a statue’s anatomy which, I am convinced, was no accident of choreography but a deliberate act of aesthetic curiosity. The result is a world where decorum trembles delightfully on the edge of desire.

The top and tail of the show – which I cannot reveal for fear of robbing you of their audacious surprise – are gloriously incongruous, and yet, in the context of this refined madness, they make perfect sense. This is Wilde reborn in all his glittering absurdity: wicked, wise, and, above all, outrageously funny.

I have seen Earnest often. I have never seen it better.

Amir Nisi

Pete Shaw

Pete is founder and publisher of Broadway Baby. He has extensive experience of both journalism and the performing arts, having been deputy editor of a national magazine; broadcaster on Capital Radio; producer of shows in London, Edinburgh and Dublin; and the go-to marketing guy for countless theatrical productions.

Related to this article:

Location:

Performances

The Blurb:

An announcement, if you please, of vital importance! The Importance of Being Earnest returns to the West End, starring Olly Alexander and Stephen Fry, following a sell-out run at the National Theatre. Max Webster’s flamboyant, fun and vibrant new production of Oscar Wilde’s most celebrated comedic play is “joyfully reclaimed, triumphantly queer” (London Theatre). The Importance of Being Earnest transfers to the Noël Coward Theatre on St Martin's Lane for a strictly limited run, so put on your glad rags and RSVP to the hottest party of the season - book your tickets today.

During a stay in the country, friends Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff create alter egos to escape their social obligations and pursue romantic interests. But, their tangled web of lies leads to a series of comedic misunderstandings, particularly when both men find themselves entangled with women who are enamoured with the name "Ernest". What ensues is a riotous, timeless tale of identity, love, and societal expectations.

First performed in 1895, Oscar Wilde’s masterful comedy has remained a staple of theatrical repertoires worldwide. Wilde’s sharp wit and satirical examination of Victorian society have cemented the play’s status as a classic, and this production brings a modern sensibility to Wilde’s sharp satire, highlighting the absurdities of rigid social conventions and the lengths individuals will go to for love and freedom.

The Producers
Lion King
Matilda
Popular now
Phantom of the Opera
Titanique
Les Miserables