The Importance of Being Earnest is a play in which friends Jack and Algernon’s double-lives interfere with their romantic pursuits.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

JOHN “JACK” WORTHING A wealthy young gentleman who takes life seriously. His friends in the city know him only as Ernest, but in the country he goes by Jack, which he believes is his real name. He does not know his personal history, only that he was discovered as a baby in a handbag in Victoria Station. He is a friend of Algernon whose behavior he sometimes deplores. Jack is Cecily’s legal guardian and is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax. 

ALGERNON MONCRIEFF The brilliantly witty and blithely selfish nephew of Lady Bracknell and cousin to Gwendolen Fairfax. He is Jack’s best friend and is in love with Cecily Cardew.

GWENDOLEN FAIRFAX Algernon’s young, aristocratic, and charmingly superficial cousin and Lady Bracknell’s daughter. She is in love with Jack.

LADY BRACKNELL Domineering, cunning, mercenary, and snobbish - a respected member of the English aristocracy. She is Gwendolen’s mother, and she means to see her daughter well-married. She refuses to allow her daughter to marry Jack because he does not have a suitable family history. A formidable woman, Lady Bracknell is used to having her own way in all ways.

CECILY CARDEW A young woman given to romantic fantasies and intrigued by the wickedness of Jack’s brother. She is the simpler, more innocent country girl to Gwendolyn’s sophisticated city girl.

REV. CANON CHASUBLE, D.D. (DOCTOR OF DIVINITY) The pleasant rector on Jack’s estate and has a crush on Miss Prism.

MISS PRISM Cecily’s pedantic governess. She is somewhat puritanical, but her softer side leans toward Dr. Chasuble. She once wrote an important novel. 

LANE Algernon’s manservant.

MERRIMAN The butler at the Manor House.