The Importance of Being Earnest

Summary

1974 BBC production of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

Theatre play

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde [more information]

Play synopsis

'A farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play’s major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways’ (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Importance_of_Being_Earnest).

Production history

First performed on 14 February 1895 at St James’s Theatre in London.

Date of transmission

Sunday 17 February 1974

Time

8.10-9.50pm

Series

Play of the Month

Channel

BBC1

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

James MacTaggart

Producer

Cedric Messina

Playwright

Oscar Wilde

Designer

Eileen Diss

Costumes

Odette Barrow

Make-up

Maureen Winslade

Cast

Celia Bannerman	Cecily Cardew
Lally Bowers	Miss Prism
Coral Browne	Lady Bracknell
Arthur Hewlett	Merriman
Julian Holloway	Algernon Moncrieff
Michael Jayston	John Worthing, J.P.
Gemma Jones	Gwendolen Fairfax
Douglas Milvain	Lane
Richard Pearson	Rev. Canon Chasuble

Additional details

Play tags

19th-century setting; comedy; Edwardian drama

Audiovisual sources

Title

The Importance of Being Earnest (BBC, 1974)

Archive

BBC Information and Archives [more information]

Address

White City
London
UK

Telephone

+44 (0)20 8008 2288

Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/informationandarchives/

Access

BBC Information and Archives is not open to the public.

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 14 February 1974 (Magazine)

Linking notes

illustrated listing, p. 20