(WOODSTOWN, NJ) -- The Blue Moon Theatre presents The Importance of Being Ernest across two weekends from March 13-22, 2026. In this classic by Oscar Wilde, a country gentleman named Jack maintains a double life in London as Ernest to escape the responsibility of being guardian to his niece, Cecily, and to pursue the desirable Gwendolyn.
After telling his friend Algernon about his double life Algernon takes a page out of Jack’s book and creates his own alter ego, Bunbury, to avoid social engagements. As the four lives become intertwined a series of hilarious misunderstandings of deception and mistaken identity ensue in this farcical satire of Victorian society.
Performances take place Friday, March 13 at 8:00pm; Saturday, March 14 at 8:00pm; Friday, March 20 at 8:00pm; Saturday, March 21 at 8:00pm; and Sunday, March 22 at 2:00pm. Tickets are available for purchase online. The theater is located at 13 West Avenue in Woodstown, New Jersey.
The production is directed by Stacy Bachman. The Blue Moon Theatre will be presenting the original four act version of the play.
Originally written in four acts, this stage classic was cut when first produced to provide time the obligatory curtain raiser of that era. Acts II and III were condensed into one act and two characters were omitted from the last act. In 1903 a Leipzig publisher issued a German translation of the four act play and from it the original English version, which was successfully produced at London's Old Vic, was reconstructed.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was born in Dublin to Sir William Wilde and his wife Jane. While studying at Oxford, he was fascinated by the aesthetic movement and eventually became a proponent for L'art pour l'art ("Art for Art's Sake") and wrote the award-winning poem "Ravenna." Upon graduating in 1879, he moved to London to review art, write poetry and lecture in the UK, the United States and Canada. In 1884, Mr. Wilde married Constance Lloyd and, in the course of their turbulent marriage, had two sons.
His first and only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was published in 1891 and has been adapted for film and stage. Mr. Wilde's first successful theatrical endeavor, Lady Windermere's Fan, opened in 1892. He went on to create the wonderfully popular comedies A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), and the classic The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).
Not long afterward, Mr. Wilde was publicly accused of homosexuality and arrested for gross indecency. During his time in prison, he wrote De Profundis, a dramatic monologue and autobiography, which was addressed to his lover Bosie. Three years after his release in 1897, he died of cerebral meningitis in a rundown Paris hotel.
Known for his philosophical wit and irreverent charm, Mr. Wilde is famously quoted as saying, "Life is too important to be taken seriously."
