Almost every page of Oscar Wilde’s well travelled play The Importance of Being Earnest has a well loved quote. The classic play is one that deserves revisiting and revisiting and what better chance than seeing a sterling and faithful production by The People’s Theatre Company Nottingham playing this week with a limited run of Thursday 29th to Saturday 31st March 2018 at the Arts Theatre Nottingham.
Just a skim through Oscar Wilde’s script reveals such random gems as:
Algernon: You can’t possibly ask me to go without some dinner. It’s absurd. I never go without my dinner. No one ever does, except vegetarians and people like that.
Gwendolen: You have filled my tea with lumps of sugar, and though I asked you most distinctly for bread and butter, you have given me cake. I am known for the gentleness of my disposition, and the extraordinary sweetness of my nature, but I warn you, Miss Cardew, you may go too far!
Lady Bracknell: This noise is extremely unpleasant. It sounds as if he was having an argument. I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar, and often convincing.
Jack: Then a passionate celibacy is all that any of us can look forward to.