Geraldine McEwan stars as Lady Bracknell with Simon Russell Beale as Jack in Oscar Wilde’s dazzling masterpiece.

To avoid tiresome family engagements, Algernon Moncrieff, a bachelor-about-town, has invented Bunbury, an invalid friend whose bedside he is frequently obliged to attend. At the same time, his friend Jack Worthing has invented a wicked brother called Ernest to disguise his own misdemeanours. When Algernon poses as Ernest, confusion reigns, and it takes the discovery of an old black handbag to reveal the truth.

‘We should treat all the trivial things of life seriously and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality’. That is how Oscar Wilde described the philosophy of The Importance of Being Earnest, his most famous satire on aristocratic manners and high society.

This BBC Radio 3 full-cast production of Wilde’s brilliant exposé of social follies shows the playwright at his witty, light-hearted best.