'Importance of Being Earnest' coming to River Campus

A production of the British farce "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde, will open Wednesday, Dec. 6, at Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus in Cape Girardeau.

The play is set in 1895 Victorian London and follows two gentlemen bachelors, Jack and Algernon, who create alter egos named Ernest to escape their tiresome lives. They attempt to win the hearts of two women who, conveniently, claim to only love men called Ernest. The pair struggle to keep up with their own stories and become tangled in a tale of deception, disguise and misadventure.

Roxanne Wellington, associate professor at SEMO's Dobbins Conservatory of Theatre & Dance and the play's director, said the elaborate plot is a satire that ridicules the sensibilities of status in Victorian society. She said the play is a send up of the irony and hypocrisy of a people who placed so much importance on their class and name.

"Oscar Wilde is trying to make a point with these characters to skewer Victorian society," Wellington said. "But his characters are really good-hearted people that believe they have to put on these devices, make up lies in order to pursue the women of their dreams and be accepted in society."

Wellington said the play is timeless and is often revived because many of its themes still hold true. She said it also presented a good challenge for the students playing the characters who had to work hard to get used to moving in Victorian-era costumes and speaking with British accents.

"The women have to be in corsets and long gowns and work with parasols and fans, and the gentlemen, of course, are wearing high brimmed top hats and coats with tails," Wellington said. "But also the dexterity of the words in these very long sentences and turns of phrase that require very good comic-timing vocal skills."

Performance times are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6, through Saturday, Dec. 9, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 10, in Bedell Performance Hall at 518 Fountain St.

For more information and to purchase tickets, contact the River Campus box office at (573) 651-2265 or online at www.semo.edu/river-campus-events/calendar.