In 1895, Oscar Wilde was charged with “gross indecency” under a law used to criminalize sexual activity between men. He was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment with hard labor. After his release in 1897, his health, career, and public life shattered by the scandal, he lived in exile in France and died in 1900 at the age of 46.

In that same year, Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed. At its premiere, audiences reportedly fell into “rapturous amusement” and “rose in their seats and cheered and cheered again.” The critics praised its brilliant wit and sparkling humor, and remarked, “its fun is irresistible … increasing in intensity until in the third and last act it becomes uproarious”.

The play is, simply put, one of the finest works ever written in the English language. More than a century later, it’s brilliant wit and sparkling humor still shine undimmed.

Will you join us in celebrating this triumph of the human spirit, which dares, in dark moments, to embrace absurdity and share a little light?