Ridiculusmus brings The Importance of Being Earnest to the Malthouse

In Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (A Trivial Comedy for Serious People)—Jack and Algy fabricate delicious double lives to escape the straitjacket of social norms and to find the lovers they desire.

This is Wilde’s most celebrated comedy, but in the hands of these two comedic daredevils—David Woods and Jon Haynes—the hilarity hits break-neck speed as they gleefully act out every role, tumbling chaotically through impossible character changes. Yet between the absurd and masterful theatrics, the beating heart of Wilde’s humanity exposes itself.

In 2006, when Woods and Haynes first brought this production to Melbourne, Malthouse Theatre audiences fell out of their seats in laughter. Now, the Ridiculusmus team triumphantly return to double down on the hilarious dishonesty.

David Woods and Jon Haynes first met in the early 1980s and established Ridiculusmus as a flagship UK performance group touring internationally, with works that achieve the oxymoronic aim of being both serious and funny.

‘EXCEPTIONALLY FUNNY…GLORIOUS ABSURDITY… MAKES YOU HEAR EVERY LINE AFRESH.’ — The Guardian

Tickets and more information are available at malthousetheatre.com.au