The Making of Earnest
By Drew Lichtenburg, Associate Dramaturg
There are two ways of disliking my plays. One is to dislike them, the other is to like Earnest.
—Oscar Wilde
In late 1890, actor-manager George Alexander took over the London’s St. James’ Theatre and promptly offered Oscar Wilde a commission and an advance of £50 to write a play—an attractive offer to the chronically impecunious author (now a husband and a father of two). Despite initial struggles, by the summer of 1891 Wilde had finished a new work—Lady Windermere’s Fan—and Alexander agreed to an 1892 production, starring himself. It opened on February 20, 1892, providing Wilde his first stage success and launching the brief but productive flurry of playwriting hits that cemented his reputation.
By July of 1894, Wilde has become the toast of London with the success of Lady Windermere and the subsequent A Woman of No Importance. He sends Alexander a long outline for a new play and asks for £150 for a vacation to finish writing. In the letter, Wilde notes of the plot for what would become The Importance of Being Earnest, “I think an amusing thing with lots of fun and wit might be made.” He adds, teasingly,
It could be ready in October—as I have nothing else to do—and [American producer Albert] Palmer is anxious to have a play from me for the States “with no real serious interest”—just a comedy.
Alexander ignores the request for money, but Wilde takes his wife and sons to a coastal resort in Sussex from August to September, 1894. On August 13th, Wilde writes to his companion, Lord Alfred Douglas:
I have been doing nothing here but bathing and playwriting. My play is really very funny: I am quite delighted with it. But it is not shaped yet. It lies in Sibylline leaves about the room, and Arthur [the Wildes’ longtime butler] has twice made a chaos of it by “tidying up.” The result, however, was rather dramatic.
In September, 1894, Wilde writes again to Alexander; he now describes the play as “the best I have ever written” with dialogue that is “sheer comedy,” in service of a “farcical” form. Wilde ends the letter “I may mention that the play is an admirable play.” In three inspired weeks, he completes the first draft of Earnest. In a characteristic gesture of art and life imitating one another Wilde makes the play’s geographical place of birth, Worthing, the namesake of one of its characters: John Worthing.
On 25 October 1894, Wilde sends a copy of the script to Alexander. The play is in four acts and tentatively titled Lady Lancing, though Wilde has already decided to retitle it The Importance of Being Earnest (though he will withhold the eponymous final line from typists to keep the opening night surprise intact). Wilde plays hard to get, suggesting to Alexander that the play is entirely unsuitable for him as an actor or for the “definite artistic line” of the St. James Theatre.
From October to January, the two dicker over terms, but by January, 1895, Alexander acquires the British rights and plans accelerate toward a production, with Alexander playing Jack Worthing.
In February, 1895, Alexander insists that the play’s four acts need to be cut to three. This prompted Wilde to respond
Do you realise, Alec, what you are asking me to sacrifice? The act you are convinced is superfluous cost me terrible exhausting labour, not to mention heart-rending, nerve-racking strain. You may not believe me, but I assure you on my honour that it must have taken me fully five minutes to write it!
However, Wilde made the cuts—which didn’t stop him remarking to the cast, at a rehearsal of the new, shortened version,
Yes, it is quite a good play. I remember I wrote one very like it myself, but it was even more brilliant than this.
However brilliant Wilde found the four-act version, the public found three more than sufficient. When the play opened on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, 1895, it was hailed by one and all as a triumph. Sadly, a mere three months later, Wilde would find himself bankrupt.