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# PREVIEW: The Importance of Being Earnest, a trivial comedy for serious people!
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/preview-the-importance-of-being-earnest-a-trivial-comedy-for-serious-people/
- Published: 2014-06-26T07:31:47.000Z
- Updated: 2014-06-26T07:32:18.000Z
- Description: The Southampton based Maskers Theatre Company will perform Oscar Wilde’s classic play, The Importance of Being Earnest in the open air at Hamptworth Lodge, between Romsey and Salisbury from July 16-26. The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People(!) was first performed on Feb
- Author: Besi
- Tags: Arts, In The South, Theatre

## The Southampton based Maskers Theatre Company will perform Oscar Wilde’s classic play, *The Importance of Being Earnest* in the open air at Hamptworth Lodge, between Romsey and Salisbury from July 16-26.

[![Importance of being earnest](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/web-600-512.jpg)](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/gscene-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/web-600-512.jpg)**The Importance of Being Earnest,** A Trivial Comedy for Serious People(!) was first performed on February 14 1895 at the St James’s Theatre in London. It is a farce in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ 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. Contemporary reviews all praised the play’s humour, though some were cautious about its explicit lack of social comment, while others foresaw the modern consensus that it was the culmination of Wilde’s artistic career to date. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde’s most enduringly popular play.

[![Hamptworth Lodge](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/web-600140.jpg)](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/gscene-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/web-600140.jpg)

**What:** *The Importance of Being Earnest* – Oscar Wilde

**Where:** Hamptworth Lodge,Hamptworth Estate, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP5 2DR

**Time:** 7.30pm (site opens 6pm): Matinee (Sunday) 3pm (site opens 1pm)

**When:** July 16-26

**To book tickets online, [CLICK HERE:](http://www.ticketsouth.co.uk %28Out and About%29)**

**Or telephone:** 023 8071 1818 (group bookings: 023 8071 1812)

Or in person from the Mayflower Theatre Box Office, Southampton