By Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest is a farcical comedy set in late Victorian era London, in which the leading characters maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations. Two charming young ladies—sophisticated Gwendolen from the city and naive Cecily from the country—are in love with Earnest Worthing. But there is no such person as Earnest Worthing. Gwendolen thinks Jack is Earnest, and Cecily thinks Algy is Earnest. Each girl swears that she could never love a man who wasn't named Earnest. In the midst of all this confusion comes Lady Bracknell, who doesn't like the idea of anybody loving anybody. It sounds like a big mess, but Wilde unwinds this knotty affair into one of the favorite comedies of English literature. The two sets needed for this play have been the downfall of other one-act versions. A consistent contest winner, this adaptation combines the three acts into one and provides for the necessary set change without a break in the action.

DIRECTION BY Taryn Hoyt

[ AUDITION DATES ]

JANUARY 26-27, 2027

CALLBACKS (if necessary) TBD

Only need to attend ONE day. Choose which days works best for you!
(dates & times subject to change)

[ perforance DATES ]

APRIL 2-4 & 9-11, 2027

[ AGE RANGE ]

• Adults 18+

[ WHERE ]

• TBD

CONTENT ADVISORY: Mild flirting & stage intimacy. Witty & sarcastic humor.

* Please fill out the online audition form prior to auditions! *

• WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

  AGE RANGE:

  • Adults 18+

  WHAT TO PREPARE:

  • MORE INFO TBD (SEE OUR AUDITION FAQs HERE)

  • Auditionees will only need to come to one night of auditions, unless requested to return.

  • Bring a list of any conflicts you may have during the rehearsal process. January 26 - April 11, 2027

• DATES TO KNOW

  FIRST MANDATORY CAST MEETING/READ THRU/HEADSHOTS:

  • TBD

  BASIC REHEARSAL SCHEDULE:

  Starts February and end on April 11, 2027

  • EXACT REHEARSAL DATES TBD

  • Not all actors may be called for every rehearsal

  • Additional rehearsals may be scheduled during weekends/holidays if scheduling allows

  • Schedule will be finalized after auditions at the director's discretion.

  MANDATORY DRESS REHEARSALS/PERFORMANCES DATES:

  Tech Week: Saturday, March 27 to Thursday, April 1 - TIME TBD

  • Friday, April 2 at 7:00pm

  • Saturday, April 3 at 7:00pm

  • Sunday, April 4 at 2:00pm

  • Pick Up Rehearsal TBD

  • Friday, April 9 at 7:00pm

  • Saturday, April 10 at 7:00pm

  • Sunday, April 11 at 2:00pm

  (dates and times subject to change)

• BASIC CHARACTER BREAKDOWN

  The ages and gender identities below are the ages and gender identities of the characters. Actors who fall outside of these may still be considered.

  • JOHN (JACK/ERNEST) WORTHING, J.P. | Male age late 20s-early 30s
    The play's protagonist. Jack Worthing is a seemingly responsible and respectable young man who leads a double life. In Hertfordshire, where he has a country estate, Jack is known as Jack. In London he is known as Ernest. As a baby, Jack was discovered in a handbag in the cloakroom of Victoria Station by an old man who adopted him and subsequently made Jack guardian to his granddaughter, Cecily Cardew. Jack is in love with his friend Algernon's cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax. The initials after his name indicate that he is a Justice of the Peace.

  • ALGERNON MONCRIEFF | Male age late 20s-early 30s
    The play's secondary hero. Algernon is a charming, idle, decorative bachelor, nephew of Lady Bracknell, cousin of Gwendolen Fairfax, and best friend of Jack Worthing, whom he has known for years as Ernest. Algernon is brilliant, witty, selfish, amoral, and given to making delightful paradoxical and epigrammatic pronouncements. He has invented a fictional friend, "Bunbury," an invalid whose frequent sudden relapses allow Algernon to wriggle out of unpleasant or dull social obligations.

  • GWENDOLEN FAIRFAX | Female age early 20s
    Algernon's cousin and Lady Bracknell's daughter. Gwendolen is in love with Jack, whom she knows as Ernest. A model and arbiter of high fashion and society, Gwendolen speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste and morality. She is sophisticated, intellectual, cosmopolitan, and utterly pretentious. Gwendolen is fixated on the name Ernest and says she will not marry a man without that name.

  • CECILY CARDEW | Female age early 20s
    Jack's ward, the granddaughter of the old gentlemen who found and adopted Jack when Jack was a baby. Cecily is probably the most realistically drawn character in the play. Like Gwendolen, she is obsessed with the name Ernest, but she is even more intrigued by the idea of wickedness. This idea, rather than the virtuous-sounding name, has prompted her to fall in love with Jack's brother Ernest in her imagination and to invent an elaborate romance and courtship between them.

  • LADY BRACKNELL | Female age: 50-65
    Algernon's snobbish, mercenary, and domineering aunt and Gwendolen's mother. Lady Bracknell married well, and her primary goal in life is to see her daughter do the same. She has a list of "eligible young men" and a prepared interview she gives to potential suitors. Like her nephew, Lady Bracknell is given to making hilarious pronouncements, but where Algernon means to be witty, the humor in Lady Bracknell's speeches is unintentional. Through the figure of Lady Bracknell, Wilde manages to satirize the hypocrisy and stupidity of the British aristocracy. Lady Bracknell values ignorance, which she sees as "a delicate exotic fruit." When she gives a dinner party, she prefers her husband to eat downstairs with the servants. She is cunning, narrow-minded, authoritarian, and possibly the most quotable character in the play.

  • MISS PRISM | Female age 40-65
    Cecily's governess. Miss Prism is an endless source of pedantic bromides and clichés. She highly approves of Jack's presumed respectability and harshly criticizes his "unfortunate" brother. Puritan though she is, Miss Prism's severe pronouncements have a way of going so far over the top that they inspire laughter. Despite her rigidity, Miss Prism seems to have a softer side. She speaks of having once written a novel whose manuscript was "lost" or "abandoned." Also, she entertains romantic feelings for Dr. Chasuble.

  • REV. CANON CHASUBLE, D.D. | Male age 50-65
    The rector on Jack's estate. Both Jack and Algernon approach Dr. Chasuble to request that they be christened "Ernest." Dr. Chasuble entertains secret romantic feelings for Miss Prism. The initials after his name stand for "Doctor of Divinity."

  • LANE | Male age 30-65
    Algernon's manservant. When the play opens, Lane is the only person who knows about Algernon's practice of "Bunburying." Lane appears only in Act I.

  • MERRIMAN | Male age 30-65
    The butler at the Manor House, Jack's estate in the country. Merriman appears only in Acts II and III.

• OTHER IMPORTANT INFO

  • There is a $30 cast fee (due after cast list is posted); the fee cover scripts and essential production costs, like costume cleanings, to ensure a high-quality experience for everyone. In addition you will receive an RHT Season T-shirt.

  If you have any questions about this fee, please contact us prior to auditions at finance@rockhilltheatre.org.

  Disclaimer: Rock Hill Community is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing theatre experiences and education to Rock Hill and the surrounding community. Your participation in this performance(s) is considered to be on a volunteer basis, and no financial compensation will be provided.

“THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST” is produced by special arrangement with
THE DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COMPANY of Woodstock, Illinois. (www.dramaticpublishing.com)

Production Graphics by Alex Peña