SUU Stage Sizzles with Earnest Wit

Published: September 20, 2006 | Read Time: 2 minutes

The Southern Utah University Theatre Arts and Dance Department will present Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest September 28-30, and October 5-7. The play is regarded by critics and scholars as being the wittiest play in the English Language.

“Earnest is a light-hearted, satirical play that explores views of love and marriage through characters who are rather shallow and deceitful,” according to the Director, Richard Bugg. “In the end the characters find out that what they think is serious is really trivial, and vice versa.”

Set in Victorian England, Earnest is the story of two men, John and Algernon, who each lead a double life as Ernest. John wants to marry Gwendolen, but she only loves him because she thinks his name is Ernest, a name which “inspires absolute confidence.” Algernon wants to marry Cecily, who also feels she could only love a man named Ernest. While John and Algernon bicker over which one is Ernest, Gwendolen and Cecily fight over which one of them is engaged to him.

“I am very excited that The Importance of Being Earnest is opening the 2006-2007 Theatre season.” says Bill Byrnes, Dean of SUU’s College of Performing and Visual Arts. “Our students will become acquainted with the work of a renowned author and our audiences will be entertained by some very funny characters.”

Sponsored by SUU’s College of Performing and Visual Arts and the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance, The Importance of Being Earnest will run September 28-30 and October 5-7 in the SUU Auditorium Theatre. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students/children, $8 for faculty and staff, and $10 for General Admission (admission is free for SUU students with a current ID card).

More information about the arts at SUU is available at 435-865-8800 or on our website at www.suu.edu/arts.

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