Antilles School Presents “The Importance of Being Earnest”

Antilles School presents Oscar Wilde’s play “The Importance of Being Earnest,” which opened in London in 1895, ridicules the upper class for their duplicity of moral character. Utilizing a mistaken identity ploy, the story follows the lives of leisure of two men, Jack ("Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.") and Algernon ("The truth is rarely pure and never simple."), and the women they pursue to marry, Gwendolen ("Whatever influence I had over Mamma, I lost at the age of three.") and Cecily ("I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.").
Throw into the mix a dowager aunt who interviews her daughter’s suitor: ("To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."). Add a spinster tutor ("Memory my dear Cecily is the diary that we all carry about with us.") a local minister, Dr. Chasuble ("…has never written a single book, so you can imagine how much he knows"), butlers whose personal lives are considered inconsequential ("…it is not a very interesting subject. I never think of it myself.") and Oscar Wilde’s comedy of manners begins to take flight.
The Antilles Middle School is presenting this funny play with an accomplished cast, including Segen Assefa, Marina Parlato, Julia Cassinelli, Abby Christopher, Jonathan Qualls, Camren Bunn, Karson Kendall, Manav Thadani and Rahul Samtani. Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, May 25 and 26, in the Prior-Jollek Hall on the Antilles School campus and at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 27. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and children.