Oscar Wilde’s play “The Importance of Being Earnest” is perhaps the best verbal farce ever written. Although it is more deliberate and less frantic than your typical farce it still has the basic elements: mistaken identities, the mocking of high society, and a few bits of outrageous physical humor. One of the great strengths of this play is the dynamic set up by the playwright between character and language. From the opening moments (the …showed first 75 words of 781 total…

…showed last 75 words of 781 total…of the upper class perfectly, but yet was making it comical for the audience. “Earnest” is certainly a play that demands your attention; however it is so joyously performed that you don’t mind giving it. None of the characters are earnest, but all are trying darn hard to look it. The Importance of Being Earnest has just the right amount of quick tempered humor to make this story of devilish hidden identities very entertaining.