Following a sell-out run at the Royal Opera House, the Barbican Theatre hosts this operatic reinterpretation of The Importance Of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde’s famously quippy, quirky and anarchic comedy of mistaken identities.

Jack and his friend Algernon are in a pickle: they love Gwendolen and Cecily, but there is confusion over which of them is called Earnest – a name of which both girls happen to be very fond. Gwendolen’s mother and Algernon’s aunt, the fearsome Lady Bracknell, strongly disapproves. 

Gerald Barry’s adaptation was first performed in a concert version, and soon recognised as ‘a genuine contemporary classic’ (New Statesman) and given a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. Having since been fully staged by Ramin Gray for the Royal Opera House in a modern-dress production giddy with cucumber sandwiches, smashed plates and megaphones, the high-octane comedy returns for a second London season, this time to the Barbican.

Once more unfurling to a hyperactive score, with surreal variations on Beethoven and ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ The Importance Of Being Earnest is transformed into a fabulous kaleidoscope of music and manners.

Please note, this production is recommended for individuals ages 12 and older.

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